


A Weapon Made from the Heart

by whythefujamievenonthis



Category: Monster Prom (Visual Novel), Monster Prom - Fandom
Genre: Gay, M/M, Monster Prom, mlm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-06-27 00:00:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15673917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whythefujamievenonthis/pseuds/whythefujamievenonthis
Summary: When the rest of his group is bored as Hell and suggest they play a prank on someone, Damien is left between a rock and a hard place after accidentally suggesting his crush - Brian Green. With the group now calling on him to befriend Brian in order to carry their prank out, in the lead up to it Damien is left fighting between wanting to please his friends and his own heart - what will he choose?





	1. Shit Hits the Fan.

**Author's Note:**

> My first Monster Prom fic so idk how bad it is sorry!

**WEEK 1 - MONDAY**  
  
It was another day at Spooky High School: bats were screeching, lights were flickering uncontrollably, and the smell of the undead hung in the air – and that was just in the hallways. Whilst the majority of the school was already fed up as they waited for their morning lessons to be over, there were a few rogue students hiding out by the bathrooms. Having been a group for years, they were all more than comfortable with skipping class to do nothing but complain to one another. Since they’d all skipped morning registration and the first two lessons of the day, Vera, Damien, Miranda, Liam, Polly and Scott were all stood together just outside the bathrooms chatting when the conversation changed topic:  
  
  
“Ugh, guys I’m like, so bored.” Polly complained, “I feel like ripping my hair out – y’know, if I actually had any, I’m a ghost so I can’t actually pull any hair out-”  
  
  
“We get it.” Vera replied as she rolled her eyes, “I have to agree with Polly, I’m bored shitless. The last guy I paid to entertain me is dead.”  
  
  
“How’d he die?” Damien asked.  
  
  
“I told him to jump off a cliff.”  
  
  
“Fuckin’ metal.” Damien replied, leaving the rest of the group slightly confused as to if he was complimenting Vera and her decision or the guy for actually jumping.  
  
  
“I’M STILL BORED GUYS, COME ONNNNN. THERE, LIKE, HAS TO BE A PARTY OR SOME SHIT I CAN GO TO.”  
  
  
“Well there’s always detention,” suggested Scott with a goofy grin on his face, “I think we’ll have detention again for skipping class. And the teacher puts fancy music on as we sit there, so it’s kinda like a party Polly.”  
  
  
“THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH SCOTT.” complained Polly, “YOU CAN’T DO DRUGS IN DETENTION.”  
  
  
“You can do steroids and supplements at the gym though! Coach always says that getting help from artificial products is fine as long as it’s for the good of the team.”  
  
  
“Speaking of which,” Vera began, “Scott, don’t you have Football practice soon? Second period just finished.”  
  
  
“OH DARN.” Scott yelled loudly, “OH NO, WHAT IF I’M LATE. COACH IS GONNA BE MAD. WAIT. WHAT IF HE’S NOT MAD. WHAT IF IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN THAT? WHAT IF HE’S _DISAPPOINTED_?”  
  
  
“Well you better go run as fast as you can-” Liam began, but before he could even finish his sentence Scott was already sprinting as fast as he could (which was actually pretty fast). Scott was out of sight within seconds, leaving the rest of the group spell bound as to how someone could be such an idiot yet so good at sports, “Vera – did Scott actually  
have practice?”  
  
  
“Like Hell if I know Liam.” Vera replied, “But I know he’d be against what I’m about to say next.”  
  
  
“Which is?” Polly asked, practically shaking with boredom.  
  
  
“We’re gonna pull a prank.”  
  
  
“A prank.” Polly repeated, “Vera, me and Scott form Prank Masterz you know.”  
  
  
“This is a mean prank though.” Vera replied, “I think we should bury someone alive.”  
  
  
“OHHHHHH!” Miranda squealed as she bounced up and down excitedly, “I do love a good prank, especially of the ‘mean’ variety! Pray tell who we plan on pranking?”  
  
  
“That’s the thing, I’m not too sure.” Vera stated, “Weirdly enough nobody has pissed me off recently. Anybody here pissed with someone?”  
  
  
“I’M SO EXCITED FOR THIS PRANK.” Polly screamed as she hugged Miranda, quite clearly not pissed with anyone.  
  
  
“I am dreadfully annoyed with the air-people.” Miranda replied, “Always trying to stop Daddy’s plans to kill them all.”  
  
  
“I don’t think we can kill a whole race with one prank.” Vera responded, “Liam?”  
  
  
“Only society for its capitalist and totally unoriginal ways. Oh, and Instagram for adding a new, and quite frankly awful, filter in its latest update.”  
  
  
“Right. Again, neither society or Instagram are physical people we can shove into a coffin and bury underground. Damien, please tell me you have someone in mind?”  
  
  
He did indeed have someone in mind, but not for the prank. He was in a world of his own (although he’d never admit it) daydreaming about Brian Green: the Zombie who he tended to have quite a few lessons with. Although nobody else knew it, he secretly had a large crush on the tall green and constantly sleepy giant. Ever since he saw Brian pass out in _Knives and Malay Weapons Production_ class - knocking over a tray of freshly made daggers and nearly impaling the feet of several other students as a result - Damien had failed to get the Zombie out of his mind. There was no denying it, he definitely had a thing for him. But that wasn’t something he could simply tell the rest of his friends. Brain was far from their level of popularity, and he always hung out with those other oddballs… As if Vera or Liam would let him stay in the group if he told them he had a crush on a ‘Loser’. He’d been busy daydreaming of Brian asking him to Prom (which was coming up in three weeks) when Vera interrupted his train of thought, flustered, Damien had ended up spluttering out the first name that had come to his head:  
  
  
“Brian Green.”  
  
  
Shit.  
  
  
“Brian Green?” Vera repeated, “That guy that always falls asleep in class? Why him? I didn’t know you spoke to him.”  
  
  
“I- uh, I don’t! It’s just. He’s annoying. All the time. With his, height. And the fact he’s always so laid back, and one time his hand fell off at the end of class and he didn’t notice so I had to hold it and give it back to him before he left the classroom.” reasoned Damien as he felt himself blush more and more, “Look shuddup I have my reasons.”  
  
  
“Burying a zombie alive in a coffin, so ironic. I like it.” Liam stated, a faint smile on his face that he was definitely trying to hide.  
  
  
Vera stared at Damien for a while before responding, “Great – looks like we have a victim.”  
  
  
“Do you _have_ to call him that?” Damien asked, feeling guiltier by the second (which was actually a feeling he hadn’t felt before, so for a while he thought he was having some kind of heart attack).  
  
  
“Makes things sound more interesting.” Vera stated.  
  
  
“So when is this prank bus gonna get flying?” cried Polly, clearly having forgotten how buses work, or perhaps too high to remember.  
  
  
“We’ll have to wait a while, but I was thinking Prom night.”  
  
  
“OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH” Polly exclaimed, “THIS IS GONNA BE SICKKKKKKKKK, HE’S GONNA BE LIKE “WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN?” AND WE’RE ALL GONNA BE LIKE “BECAUSE THIS IS A MEAN PRANK!” AND HE’S GONNA BE-”  
  
  
“Alright we get it!” Damien interjected, interrupting Polly’s very loud sentence, “Well he doesn’t speak to any of us, so how the hell are we gonna convince him to get anywhere with any one of us?”  
  
  
“You’ll just have to gain his trust.” Miranda replied, an excited look in her eye, “And then we’ll shatter it into a million pieces when the prank takes place in three weeks time.”  
  
  
“That’s a not a bad idea.” Vera thought aloud.  
  
  
“Me? Why me?” asked Damien.  
  
  
“Well you _are_ the one who finds him annoying right?”  
  
  
Damien felt stuck in a corner by Vera’s words and everyone else being in agreement with her, no way in Hell he was gonna admit that he only said Brian’s name because he was day dreaming about him, “Ugh fine, but for three weeks? That’s effort.”  
  
  
“But it’ll be worth it to see your enemy broken beyond belief when we let him out after a week or so.” offered Miranda.  
  
  
“A week?” Damien repeated, “That’s a bit harsh.”  
  
  
“Got a better idea?” Vera asked, “Or is there another reason why you said his name?”  
  
  
“A week. Right, okay, fine, I’ll do it.”  
  
  
“Good boy.” Vera praised as she tucked one of her snakes behind her ears. After she said this her phone began to go off, so she took it from her purse to see what was up, “Looks like someone wants to be my new entertainment slave, I gotta go.”  
  
  
“I’ll go too.” Polly said as she began checking her phone as well, “Looks like there’s an orphanage nearby holding an adoption party. A party’s a party, so I wanna check it out. See ya!”  
  
  
As Polly and Vera walked off in the same direction, one of Miranda’s slaves walked up to her, a slip of paper in hand. Miranda then called for her other slave to take the paper from the other slave and read it aloud – it revealed that her father wanted her back at the palace for another session of Husband Hunting, “I’m afraid I must dash, I’m 19 and not getting any younger! I have a husband to find, farewell!”  
  
  
Damien and Liam stayed there, silent for a few seconds before Liam eventually spoke, “I better make sure Scott isn’t in trouble, he tends to be clumsy when he’s in a hurry – and I highly doubt he actually has Football practice. I’ll see you later.”  
  
  
Once everyone was finally out of sight and earshot, Damien let out a rather loud and piercing yell sounding something along of the lines of “GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”. This was the last thing he wanted, he’d completely fucked up, it was all his fault, any chance of Brian liking him after this prank would surely be up in flames. At this point Damien was pacing back and forth in the grass thinking of just how badly he’d fucked up, and eventually he sought comfort in punching the wall of the bathrooms. Over and over again his knuckles made contact with the bricks; pieces from the thick layer of plaster that coated the walls began to chip away as he punched over and over and over again. He wasn’t really angry, he was just frustrated with himself more than anything – which wasn’t a feeling he was used to. He ended up punching the wall till his knuckles were bruised and bloody, and afterwards he proceeded to crouch down on the floor, his head in his hands. Having thought nobody else was there, he jumped a little to hear someone speak to him:  
  
  
“Punching walls and _not_ people – this is a new look for you.”  
  
  
It was Brian. Shit, shit, and double shit it was _Brian_. The last person he wanted to see him like this and there he was making his way over! Damien could only stare, still crouched down as he watched the tall green zombie casually make his way over to him. His gaze was friendly, his smile was soft, and he didn’t seem to be judging Damien for punching the wall. As he got closer Damien saw Brian take off the backpack that had been slung over his shoulder and begin to zip it open. Once he was crouching down right next to Damien, he took out a first aid kit.  
  
  
“With body parts always falling off, I only really use the needle and thread I keep in here, but I always keep bandages and plasters that came with it too – just in case someone else needs them. Can I see your hands?” Brian asked as he went to grab one of Damien’s bloodied hands, only for Damien to pull away harshly, “I don’t care if you’re the Prince of Hell, but don’t be a dick. Just let me fix your hands okay?”  
  
  
Damien couldn’t help himself from staring, this was the closest he’d ever physically been to Brian, and this was the longest he’d held a conversation with him (although to Brian it felt pretty one sided), “Fine, do what you want.” Damien agreed as he held out one of his hands for Brian to take hold of. Once Brian did so, Damien sat himself down properly onto the grass and Brian copied him.  
  
  
“Why were you punching the wall?” Brian asked, his legs crossed like Damien’s, as he took a wet wipe out of the kit and wiped both of Damien’s hands clean of any blood.  
  
  
“What’s it to you?” Damien said, wincing slightly as the wet wipe stung his cut open knuckles – this definitely wasn’t how he anticipated his first proper conversation with Brian to go.  
  
  
“I dunno, you seemed pretty worked up about something.” the gentle green giant said before taking out a bandage and carefully beginning to wrap it around the knuckles of one of Damien’s hands. He was surprisingly delicate with how he wrapped the hand, yet it was still tight enough to help with the bleeding – Damien nearly didn’t notice the bandage actually go on.  
  
  
“Why are you helping me? We don’t talk.”  
  
  
“Just because we don’t talk doesn’t mean I won’t help. It’s funny though, you probably don’t even know my name-”  
  
  
“Your name’s Brian.” interrupted Damien, “We take some classes together.”  
  
  
“Ah so I’m not completely invisible to you after all? That’s good, I’m glad.” Brian said as he looked up at Damien and gave him a smile – forcing the demon to stop himself from noticeably blushing.  
  
  
“Do you know my name?” Damien asked ad Brian moved on to bandage the next hand.  
  
  
“Of course.” Brain replied, Damien almost felt his heart flutter a little before Brian continued, “You’re one of the most popular people in the whole school – and your reputation is legendary.”  
  
  
“Ah, yeah, that was a dumb question.”  
  
  
The pair fell silent as Brian continued treating Damien’s wounds. The demon was all too used to just letting his wounds scab over, so he found it a little unusual that he was being medically treated – especially for something as small as some cut knuckles. But he didn’t make Brian stop, it was a good chance to talk to him.  
  
  
“So uhh…  Prom’s coming up.” Damien said, clearly making an effort have a conversation.  
  
  
“Yeah, it is.” Brian said, “Guessing you’ve had countless offers from people?”  
  
  
“I’ve had a few so far.” Damien admitted, “But I turned them all down – not my type and all that shit. How about you then?”  
  
  
“Me? No, nobody’s asked me out. I’m not surprised though. It’d be annoying for them if we were dancing and my arm came off.”  
  
  
“But you’re an okay guy, someone’ll have to ask you at some point.”  
  
  
“Probably not, plus I’m not exactly attractive.” Brian said as he finished up bandaging Damien’s other hand.  
  
  
_Fucking liar_ Damien thought to himself as Brian packed away his first aid kit and put it back into his backpack, “We all done here then?” Damien asked, half disappointed – he thought it’d have taken longer.  
  
  
“All done!” Brian replied, as he zipped up his bag and stood up, “You need help getting up? Since your hands are all messed up.”  
  
  
Normally Damien would take an offer like that and metaphorically shove it into the persons face and then physically punch them in the face for good measure. But it was Brian – he was an exception. Without saying yes or no Damien simply held his arms out for Brian to grab hold of to pull him up off the ground, Brain smirked as he grabbed hold of Damien by the wrists and sharply pull him up onto his feet. However, because he used a little too much strength, when Damien was stood up properly the space between them was nearly non-existent – they were practically nose to nose! With their shared eye contact unwavering neither Damien or Brian pulled away immediately as Damien completely failed to stop himself from blushing, Brian was still smiling, and eventually he let go of Damien’s wrists. Damien was just about to speak when the sound of the school alarm bell sounded throughout the school grounds, signalling that break time was over and that students were due to return to lessons.  
  
  
“Well it was good talking to you.” Brian said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and began to walk away.  
  
  
“W-Wait a minute!” Damien exclaimed, making Brian stop dead in his tracks and turn to face him again, “Do I have a lesson with you next?”  
  
  
“Um, I think so, I think we have Spooks and Spells 101.”  
  
  
“Should I go?”  
  
  
“What?”  
  
  
“You heard me!” Damien yelled before suddenly shifting to a quieter (almost bashful) tone of voice, “Do you think I should go to the class?”  
  
  
Brian didn’t reply for a few seconds, but when he did, Damien couldn’t help but notice that the smile on his face seemed a little bigger, “I think it’d be cool if you did. You could always learn a fire spell.”  
  
  
“I’m already pretty good at arson.”  
  
  
“True, but still. You coming?”  
  
  
“Yeah, sure, but I’ll have to sit next to you and borrow stuff since I didn’t bring any of my school shit.”  
  
  
“That’s fine, come on then.” Brian said with a big smile as he watched Damien walk over to him to join him in walking back to the main school building.  
  
  
Despite the feeling of excitement Damien felt rising in his stomach, he also felt complete guilt in his heart as he walked alongside Brian to class. They’d only had one proper conversation and already Damien knew his feelings were only going to deepen, that he was only going to fall more and more in love, and that he was only going to feel worse the more he hung out with the tall green Zombie. As he walked side by side with Brian to class, he couldn’t stop himself from taking opportunities to look at Brian in brief intervals before looking away again.  
  
  
“I hope you don’t punch me for this, but it’d be cool if we hung out more.” Brian admitted casually as they were about to enter the building, seemingly he hadn’t noticed Damien’s gazes. He grabbed the door and held it open for Damien to walk through first, which is exactly what the red demon did.  
  
  
“Yeah, that sounds cool.” Damien agreed, trying to sound cool and trying his best to ignore his own excitement at the prospect of getting to talk to Brian again. _Since when did I become such a fucking pussy?_ Damien thought to himself as he realised he was being incredibly cliché in his one sided romance (Liam would most certainly be disappointed if he knew). But he didn’t mind all that much. For the time being, he was more concerned about how to make sure the inevitable didn’t happen; how to make sure Brian was safe from being buried alive for a whole week. He didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he was going to try his best to save Brian from a week 6ft under.  
  
  
He had quite the adventure a head of him.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. A Storm's Brewing.

**WEEK 1 - WEDNESDAY  
  
**_Spooks and Spells 101_ class, Damien was bored shitless for the umpteenth time that day (thank Satan it was fourth period). And the fact he’d forced himself into going to school the day before only made him feel more bored. The room seemed to be one of the few classes he hadn’t set on fire: with its cream coloured paint looking glossy on the walls, examples of other people’s work pinned up, a large whiteboard for the teacher to write on and a huge ‘motivating’ sign above it that read “BE THE BEST YOU EVER WERE”. The sign made Damien want to set it on fire, but he held himself back and remained sat at his desk at the back of the class; his arms folded on the table and his chin resting on them, he felt half asleep as the teacher droned on about the importance of some bullshit spell they’d be learning. As he stared off into the distance, someone made a noise to the left of him that caused him to look over – it was Brian, trying to stifle a yawn as he prepared to fall asleep in class. Having not noticed Damien looking at him, Brian fell asleep (using the large sleeves of his coat to block the sight of his head resting on the desk. He was fast asleep within seconds.  
  
  
Damien kept looking, however, at Brian as he slept: the way he gripped at the cuffs of his large coat; how he only seemed to cross his legs under the desk when he was falling asleep; how he would occasionally shift in his sleep, in order to make himself more comfortable.  
  
  
Damien hadn’t always been like this. At one point in time, if someone had asked Damien if he had feelings for Brian, he would have quite gladly ripped their head off and lit it on fire before throwing it into a bin bag (which would also be set on fire). For a long time, Damien simply assumed he paid so much attention to Brian because Brian was annoying. He convinced himself that Brian was the most annoying monster he’d ever met! It’d all started in the cafeteria, nearly a whole year ago: Damien was sauntering into the school (having missed the first half of the school day) when he walked past a table that Brian and all his friends were sat at. He didn’t pay any notice until he heard Brian say something and the rest of the table erupt into a fierce bout of laughter.  
  
  
That little shit was making fun of him, wasn’t he?  
  
  
Damien stopped dead in his tracks and looked over at Brian, who had joined in the laughter with his own annoyingly ~~cute~~ ** _ugly_** chuckle, “Hey, who the fuck do you think you’re talking about?”  
  
  
Brian stopped laughing and looked up at Damien (who was already seething with rage), “Um… Nobody?”  
  
  
“Don’t bullshit me Rotface, I know you were taking the piss out of me. So, tell me, what the fuck did you just say?”  
  
  
“All I said was that Principal Giant Spider reminded me of that guy from Humans Inc. You know, the human CEO that runs the oil company and loses his shit when the two main characters begin to discover that renewable energy can be just as useful?”  
  
  
“DIDN’T I JUST SAY DON’T BULLSHIT ME?” Damien yell as he made his way over to Brian’s chair. He half expected the zombie to apologise and sincerely beg for his face not to be beaten to a bloody undead pulp, so he had to disguise his surprise when Brian stood up out of his chair.  
  
  
“I didn’t bullshit you. Listen man, I don’t want to turn this into something it’s not, so why don’t you just chill out – nobody here was making a joke about you. I really don’t  
want to fight you on this-”  
  
  
“Chill out. CHILL OUT? GAHHHHHHHHHHHHH ALRIGHT COFFIN BREATH I’M GONNA TEAR YOU APART BY YOUR FUCKING STITCHES.” Damien screamed before tackling Brian to the floor of the cafeteria. He only really thought Brian would just lie there and beg him to stop, but again the tall Zombie surprised him by fighting back with a strong hook to the left side of his face. This scramble on the floor continued for nearly a minute, the rest of the canteen too used to Damien’s antics to stop them.  
  
  
“S-shouldn’t we h-help Brian?” Oz asked.  
  
  
“Nah, I think he’s got this one, I mean, look at him.” Amira stated, hands on hips, “I don’t think anyone’s lasted this long against Damien and lived to tell the tale. Leave ‘em to it.”  
  
  
And so they did, and Brian did continue to put up a good fight. It even got to the point where Brian seemed to be winning: after giving him another hook to the side of the face, Brian had managed to topple Damien over onto his back; after straddling him Brian then pinned Damien to the floor so he could no longer lash out. Too shocked to fight back, the only reason Brian stopped was because Principal Giant Spider was coming over to the cafeteria. In the distance the whole room of monsters could quite clearly here the arachnid yell:  
  
  
“The Human CEO from Humans Inc? You’re in big trouble Brian Green!”  
  
  
“Shit.” Brian muttered, “Who the fuck told him?” he asked, looking around the cafeteria for a possible culprit, but he soon realised there was no time for finding the snitch, and promptly leapt up off of Damien and sprinted out of the room.  
  
  
Damien continued to lay on the floor, in shock, the side of his face aching slightly from being punched – he hadn’t expected Brian to put up such a good fight. In the distance he could hear Scott talking to the rest of the group:  
  
  
“I told PSG, it was a funny joke, I thought he’d like it. I hope that guy isn’t in trouble…”  
  
  
From that day onwards, Damien had it shoved into his head that Brian was the most frustrating, infuriating and annoying monster in the whole school, and that he deserved much more than a sound beating. At every opportunity, he would hunt Brian out in a crowd and give him a mean stare each time; after realising he had quite a few classes with the fuckdoor he began attending lessons from time to time, to keep an eye on Brian – making sure he didn’t talk shit about him etc. As a result of that fight, he convinced the rest of the group to move the usual table closer to where Brian and his group of freaks usually sat in the cafeteria, he never told them the reason why, but secretly it was to make sure Brian didn’t talk about him. Not wanting to be shunned by his friends, Damien had perfected his methods to ensure his group didn’t have a single clue about what he was up to. This continued like this for weeks after their scuffle in the cafeteria, Brian completely unaware of Damien’s apparent hatred towards him, and Damien looking at everything the zombie did and hating him for it.  
  
  
He was positive that he hated Brian. So why did everything suddenly change?  
  
  
It was another day in class, Spooky High in full swing with lessons taking place across the whole building, for Damien; he had _Knives and Malay Weapons Production Class_ (also known as _Weapon Tech_ by the students), which meant he had class with Brian. He sat there, next to Liam and Scott, and as usual he used his concentration on staring at Brian profusely. Stupid green giant with his stupid jacket, stupidly nice hair and stupid smile. He was stupid as well as annoying apparently. His session of Brian-Hating was going on just like it always did – with Damien staring and Brian oblivious to it (since he was napping again) when the teacher of the class noticed Brian was asleep and startled him awake:  
  
  
“Mr Green!” the teacher called, causing Brian to start awake. As a result of this, Brian then knocked over a rather large tray of freshly made daggers that had been produced by the other class. The sharp weapons clattered to the floor, only just missing the feet of not only Brian himself, but several other members of the class.  
  
  
“Uhm, sorry Sir, my bad.” Brian apologised. Without the ability to blush (being a corpse and all), he instead showed a large toothy grin that further revealed the gaping hole in the side of his face. He followed his apology with a light-hearted chuckle as he scratched the beck of his head with one of his hands.  
  
  
That was it. That was the moment everything had changed. It was almost as if Damien was seeing him in a completely new light, like, like he was seeing him properly – and not just thinking of him as the annoying zombie he thought he was. It was… weird. The change was so sudden and out of nowhere it actually freaked him out. Brian Green… not annoying? Even worse, Brian Green was now suddenly… Attractive? Or perhaps he always had been, but the young Prince of Hell had always replaced those feelings with hatred because he hadn’t allowed himself to consider the idea of romance? It was definitely the weirdest fucking thing in Damien’s mind.  
  
  
And that’s where it came from, a something that had come from what he thought was absolutely nothing.  
  
  
Damien’s day-dreaming and reminiscing was interrupted by the end of class bell ringing loudly through the room. The signal was promptly met with the large class of monsters rising out of their desks to head to their next class, expect for one – Brian, who was still fast asleep.  
  
  
“Yo, Brian.” Damien said as he shoved his belongings into his school bag, but Brian wouldn’t budged, not even a little, Damien sighed and left his bag on the top of his desk before kneeling down at the front of Brian’s desk (eye level with where Brian’s head was resting) ad spoke again, “Listen man, we’re gonna be late for our next class. Wake up.”  
  
  
After one or two more friendly attempts, Damien’s patience ran a little thin, so he decided to give Brian a flick on the forehead. Surely enough the tired Zombie shifted, opened his eyes, and slowly woke up.  
  
  
“Where’s everyone?”  
  
  
“Next class, you fell asleep again.”  
  
  
“Oh, my bad.” Brian replied, eventually standing up after packing his stuff away, “Should we go now?”  
  
  
“Probably for the best. We could just skip the class you know.” Damien suggested.  
  
  
“What do we have next?”  
  
  
“ _Advanced Economic Take Over,_ I think.”  
  
  
“Vera’s gonna be there…” Brian sighed, “She always gets too intense in those classes.”  
  
  
“So… We can skip?”  
  
  
“If we skip you’ll take the blame if we get caught?”  
  
  
“Yeah I’ll just say I held you hostage or some shit.”

                                              ====================================================  
  
A few minutes later the pair of them were back at the Bathrooms, well, the small grassy area next to the bathrooms – they were lying down staring at the sky, trying to make things out from the clouds to pass the time. The sky itself was rather grey, almost like it was going to rain, neither of them seemed to have realised this though.  
  
  
“That looks like a bird.” Brian said, pointing at the seemingly bird shaped cloud.  
  
  
“Fuck off, no it doesn’t.” Damien replied, “Looks like an Orphanage that’s on fire.”  
  
  
“Okay… and, what about the cloud next to it, another Orphanage?”  
  
  
“No, god I’m not blind. That’s a Hospital that’s also on fire.”  
  
  
“Right.” Brian chuckled as he closed his eyes for a few seconds.  
  
  
“Dude, I came here to skip not to nap.” Damien whined as he gave Brian a gentle slap on the face (Brian wasn’t sure how a slap could be gentle, but compared to Damien’s usual slaps it at least _felt_ gentle).  
  
  
“I’m not falling asleep, I’m relaxing.”  
  
  
“Relaxing?”  
  
  
“Ever done it?”  
  
  
“No. I’m too busy lighting shit on fire and pissing the police _and_ my Dads off.”  
  
  
“Well try it, you might like it.” Brian suggested as he looked over at Damien. But the young Prince looked completely lost as to where to begin when it came to _How to Relax_ , “Look just, lie down, use your arms to rest your head, make sure you’re comfortable and close your eyes. Slow breaths help too.”  
  
  
Damien did as instructed, and eventually began to feel his muscles slacken, his heart rate slow to a steadier beat, he felt the tension in his jaw disappear and his legs feel light, “Dude, this relaxing thing feels fucking weird.”  
  
  
“You’ll get used to it. But I’ll tell you something that’s definitely weird.”  
  
  
“What?”  
  
  
“The fact it’s been three days since you started talking to me normally, and you haven’t hit or attacked me, or tried to kill me.”  
  
  
“Why would I do that?”  
  
  
“You tried to in the cafeteria months ago, I thought for sure you hated my guts. Or that you’d forgotten me.”  
  
  
“Forgotten?”  
  
  
“All the people you fight, a scuffle in the cafeteria wouldn’t even be worth remembering.”  
  
  
“Ah, I see your point. Well after you helped me out on Monday, I realised you weren’t a complete Fuckdoor.”  
  
  
“Jee, thanks.” Brian thanked sarcastically.  
  
  
“No problem.” Damien replied, completely serious, “You’re more like, 70% fuckdoor.”  
  
  
“That’s good to know.”  
  
  
“It is, it just means I won’t set your house on fire or kill you.”  
  
  
“Well as long as your warming up to me isn’t apart of some weird scheme you’ve got concocting I think I’ll be okay.” Brian said happily enough, looking at Damien with a warm  
 smile.  
  
  
_Shit, shit and double shit_ Damien thought to himself as small splatters of rainfall began to tumble down from the clouds. _That’s it_ , he thought, _I have to tell him, it’s only been three days and already I can’t do this shit anymore.  
  
  
_ “Listen, Brian, I need to tell you something.”  
  
  
“Go for it.”  
  
  
“The thing is…” Damien began, but just as he did the light rainfall he’d felt earlier became a lot heavier – almost like a monsoon.  
  
  
“Tell me in a bit.” Brian interrupted as he scrambled up off the grass, promptly pulling Damien to his feet too, “I think your friend Miranda’s let a monster out of her Kingdom.”  
  
  
“Why’s that?”  
  
  
“Because there’s a massive Sea Beast making its way past the school and over to us.”  
  
  
Damien turned around Brian was right, there was indeed a massive Sea Beast making its way over. It’d be an understatement to describe how large it was; it seemed to be made nearly entirely of water besides the large pearly white teeth that sat at the centre of the four-legged beast’s head. It let out an almighty and deafening shriek as it took giant steps towards the pair.  
  
  
“This is the second time in a month!” Damien yelled, trying to make sure Brian could hear him as loud noises of crashing and lapping water began to get louder and louder.  
  
  
“Complain later, we’ve gotta get out of that thing’s way!” Brian yelled back, grabbing Damien by the wrist before he began sprinting away (pulling the young Prince of Hell along with him). Damien simply allowed Brian to pull him along, the zombie was surprisingly fast despite how sleepy he looked all the time, and it was almost tricky to match his pace. But after around fifteen or twenty minutes of running, the pair found themselves near the centre of town (the Sea-Beast out of sight).  
  
  
“That thing was huge, no way it’s just disappeared.” Damien muttered as he slowly regained his breath.  
  
  
“Maybe the Coven are sorting it out?” Brian suggested, “Well, so much for relaxing.”  
  
  
Damien couldn’t help but laugh, “Yeah, I guess so. I’m guessing class is cancelled then.”  
  
  
“Janitor Were-Bear will have to spend a lot of time cleaning the whole school out.”  
  
  
“He’s gonna be pissed. And it’s still fucking raining!”  
  
  
Brian was quick to come up with a solution and began to remove his large and woolly hooded jacket, “Here, take this.”  
  
  
“What? No way, it’s yours.”  
  
  
“I may be a zombie, but I don’t have any diseases, so wearing the jacket isn’t gonna kill you man. Besides, I can’t feel the rain let alone get a cold from it, plus, water beats fire – so just wear the jacket.”  
  
  
After a small staring contest, Damien gave in and took Brian jacket, and he just about managed to mutter out a word or two of thanks as he put the jacket on too. After this there was a long pause in the conversation, Brian was dead so didn’t really have to get his breath back, but Damien was more used to doing a crime and speeding away in his car, not on foot. When Damien did manage to regain control of his breathing, he wasn’t actually sure what to say, luckily Brian spoke before he got a chance.  
  
  
“Shit, yeah, what was it you wanted to tell me before?”  
  
  
Damien froze, he’d lost his balls to tell Brian the truth, “Oh um, just that… I think we need to hang out after school from now on.”  
  
  
“Really?”  
  
  
“Yeah, for the project.”  
  
  
“Ah, yeah, I see your point. If I keep falling asleep in class, we’ll never get it done. Sure man.”  
  
  
“Really?”  
  
  
“Yeah, can I get your number?” Brian asked.  
  
  
“Sure.” Damien agreed, promptly pulling out his phone. Brian did the same and after a minute or so, Damien had Brian’s number saved to his cell.  
  
  
“Call me if you need anything else, doesn’t have to just be about the project.” Brian stated, a warm grin spread across his face, and after Brian nodded in acknowledgement he spoke again, “Well, I better head back. I’ll see you around Devilbreath.” He said calmly as he turned around to walk home in the pouring rain.  
  
  
“See you later Rotface!” Damien replied loudly, but not with the malice he’d usually yell insults with. After Brian was almost out of sight Damien turned around to head back to the portal. The portal itself was a gateway into his Dads’ circles of Hell, but since he’d left it open, and he didn’t have a spare, he had to walk the short journey to where he’d opened it up that morning. Sure, the rain sucked, but it could have been worse. The only real problem on Damien’s mind was that he had to stop himself from freaking out because he was wearing Brian’s jacket.  
  
  
The smell of the rain mixed with Brian’s scent definitely wasn’t something he was opposed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! Any comment is welcome :) Oh, and please remember to leave a kudos!


	3. Time to Team Up

**WEEK 1 – FRIDAY**  
  
Turns out the Were-Bear Janitor didn’t need that much time to dry off the building after Miranda’s Sea Beast had struck; just patience and a very large hairdryer. Friday morning, and Damien arrived at school not only on time but with a bag that actually contained a couple of school supplies: a pen, pencil, eraser and a large knife. After having his bag searched (a safety precaution put in place just for him) and security finding no gasoline or lighters, or any arson equipment for that matter, he made his way through, apparently large knives aren’t an issue for the school. After trapesing through the hallways he eventually entered his Morning Registration room – a true rarity. The teacher nearly keeled over as Damien entered the class and sat himself down at the very back of the room, he promptly took out his knife and began carving swears and such into the desk. But the teacher didn’t mind so long as he didn’t stab a fellow student, which he didn’t, so morning registration went off without a hitch. When the bell rang signalling first lesson, Damien practically leapt out of his desk, he had a class with Brian first – _Knives and Malay Weapons Production_ class.

  
He made his way down to the basement of the school where the class was situated and promptly entered, he tried to ignore other members of the class going pale at the sight of him entering the room and instead focused on trying to casualty spot Brian. Brian seemed to have spotted him too and signalled for Damien to come and sit next to him (alongside his other friends), Damien glanced over and saw Scott on the other side of the room sitting next to Liam, Liam would definitely tell Vera something was up if Damien didn’t go sit next to Brian. Shit. There was no way around it Damien thought to himself as he walked past class members who were already sitting down and joined Brian at his table of friends.

  
“Surprised to see you in another class.” Brian said, smiling, “You looked bored shitless on Tuesday, and Wednesday.”

  
“I was.” Damien agreed, “But uh, they said they won’t let me go to Prom if I skip anymore classes. Plus, I need to tell Miranda to put that stupid fucking Sea-Beast on a leash.”

  
“Well, since you _are_ here,” Brian began, “Let me introduce you to my friends: Oz, Amira and Vicky.”

  
“H-hi.” Oz attempted.

  
“Wassup.” Amira added.

 

  
“Hi!” Vicky said chirpily.

  
“Hey…” Damien replied, as he sat himself right next to Brian.

  
“You don’t have to be nervous y’know.” Brian said, nudging Damien ever so slightly.

  
“I’M NOT NERVOUS YOU LITTLE-”

  
“Good morning class! It is I, Mr. Goodbeast.” the Teacher exclaimed as he entered the room, interrupting Damien’s hot blast of anger, “Good to see you all again, and what an exciting lesson we have today too!” he continued as he made his way to the front of the room and set his briefcase down on his desk. He was a Manticore of sorts: with a Lion’s head, a humanoid face as well as wings and tail protruding from his clothes as he stood on his hind legs – it seemed he was either the runt of his litter or his current form was hiding away something much more violent. It seemed everyone except Damien didn’t want to find out.

  
“I bet he’s a secret badass.” Damien muttered under his breath so only Brian could hear, “No way in Hell he looks like that and doesn’t do awesome shit in his spare time.”

  
“Just pay attention.” Brian smirked back.

  
“Today everyone,” Mr. Goodbeast continued, “I am having you split into pairs to create a piece of work together! And in light of Prom coming up, I want it to really be something that comes from that heart – something you’d give to the person you care about!”

  
“Love and romance shit? How boring, I’m here to make weapons.”

  
“It think it’s a nice idea.” Brian admitted, “It’d be fun to try something new.”

  
“I never said I hated it though, so I guess I’ll give it a try too.” Damien added hastily.

  
“I’ll let you all pick your own pairs,” Mr. Goodbeast stated with a smile, “But you have thirty seconds, so hop to it.”

  
Immediately a whole room on monsters turned into chaos as they all rushed to friends to form pairs; Damien saw Liam immediately pair up with Scott, so there was no chance of him making his escape there, he half hoped Brian would chose to work with one of his friends but before he knew it, Oz, Vicky and Amira had grouped together.

  
“You can’t do that shit!” Damien argued, “He said pairs.”

  
“There’s an odd number of people in the class since you showed up, so he has to let us work in a three.”

  
“Looks like it’s just you and me then.” Brian stated, turning and looking at Damien with a large grin, “You don’t mind, do you?”

  
It was too early in the morning for falling in love, but Damien still had to force himself not to blush as he replied, “Not too much, no.”

  
“Good.” Brian said, and after Mr. Goodbeast informed the class that the project information would be found in booklets at the front of the class, he watched as Damien left his seat to go grab two.

  
“So… _Damien_.” Amira began, “I won’t lie, I have no clue what you see in him.”

  
“Y-yeah.” Oz agreed, “He doesn’t seem all that friendly.”

  
“But on the plus side his friend is cute.” Vicky said with a large smile.

  
“Who would that be?” asked Amira.

  
“Scott Howl!” Vicky said in an almost squeal, “He’s so cute, and adorable and he just melts my heart! I _so_ want to ask him to prom.”

  
“Then do it.” Brian said with a grin, happy to see his close friend so head over heels in love.

  
“Only if you ask Damien out to prom too.” Vicky said, smirking.

  
“I might, but I want to make sure he won’t beat the shit out of me if I do ask him. He’s beat me up once already, remember? And I don’t want to die all over again.”

  
“Hey, in all honesty I thought you won!” 

  
“Thanks Amira, winning that fight _totally_ means he’ll say yes if I ask him out.”

  
After he said this Amira signalled that Damien was on his way back and the group promptly stopped their conversation, holding it off to continue at a later time. Brian watched as Damien placed a booklet in front of him on the worktable and sat down (his own booklet in hand).

  
“Thanks.” Brian said as he began to flick through it.

  
“Where’s ours then Devilbreath?” Amira asked as she clicked her fingers, setting them alight each time she did it. Her tone of voice showed clearly that she meant nothing by it - that she was just being playful - but Damien didn’t see it as such.

  
“In Hell Bitchface.” he snapped back, grinding his sharp teeth slightly.

  
“L-let’s not fight or anything. It’s not n-nice.” Oz began, attempting to resolve any bad tension on the table.

  
“S-s-shut up shadow boy.” Damien mimicked before he felt a hard first land on the top of his head, he jumped a little in surpise and looked above him to see the first belonged to Brian.

  
“You talk to my friends nicely or fuck off Damien. Just because I offered to work with you doesn’t get you special treatment.”

  
“She fucking started it!” Damien yelled.

  
“And I’m finishing it!” Brian yelled back before turning to his fire haired friend, “Amira apologise now.”

  
“Alright, alright, jeez, I’m sorry.” Amira apologised before getting out of her seat to go grab some booklets.

  
“Damien apologise to Oz.”

  
“But-”

  
“Now.” Brian said, a mean look in his eyes that Damien couldn’t help but find somewhat attractive – people didn’t tell him to do shit, so Brian making him say sorry was _almost_ a nice change.

  
Damien looked up at Oz who was already shaking, “Look dude, I’m sorry I snapped – my bad.”

  
“N-no p-problem.” Oz replied, quite obviously still shaking.

  
This seemed to be enough for Brian, and he was quite happy to move on from the whole incident (much to Damien’s relief), “Great, now we’re back on the right track, let’s make a start on the project soon.” 

  
“Shouldn’t you read the booklet now?” Vicky suggested.

  
“I’ll fall asleep.” Brian replied as he rested his head in one of his hands.

  
“Looks like you’re about to fall asleep regardless.” 

  
“Probably.” Brian stated as he took out his phone and earphones, placed a bud in each ear, crossed his arms and rested his head in them – he was asleep in seconds.

  
“Brian, Brian wake up- Damn it.” Damien sighed after trying to poke Brian awake, eventually he decided to just focus on the contents of the booklet.

  
“Yeah he tends to do that a lot in class.” Vicky stated, “But, his work has always ended up getting A’s, I dunno how he does it.”

  
“Maybe he studies at home?” Amira suggested.

  
“N-no, I’ve been to his place, it’s p-pretty much just his bed and w-wardrobe in his room, and I c-couldn’t see any school stuff in the house.”

  
“Funny he has a wardrobe, since he wears the same thing every day.” Amira smiled.

  
“Don’t we all?” added Vicky before giggling a little.

  
“Nah, he’s wearing a different jacket today.” Damien said, still reading the booklet contents – seemingly he had no idea he was actually talking aloud.

  
“It doesn’t look it.” Vicky replied as she looked at the rest of the group, surprised Damien was listening to them at all.

  
“His jacket on Wednesday had a logo on the left side pocket, and the wool on the hood was whiter – today there’s no logo and the wool on the hood looks yellower.” Damien said, subconsciously forgetting to mention that he still had Brian’s good jacket at home, having forgotten to give it back to the Zombie after he lent it to him.

  
Silence spread across the trio like wildfire, with Brian seemingly still asleep – he separated the trio from Damien (who was still focused on the booklet and unaware of what he’d said). They were all clueless as to how to reply to Damien’s words or if they should even respond; had he really been paying that much attention? Was he actually stalking Brian? Was Brian going to be the next guy he murdered? None of them had a single clue. After another thirty minutes or so Brian eventually woke up only to find his friends seemingly shell shocked and Damien having just finished the booklet (he was a slow reader).

  
“Should we make a start?” Brian proposed, causing Damien to start a little as he closed the booklet.

  
“Took your fucking time waking up then.” Damien muttered before continuing, “But yeah, we should make a start. The booklet is pretty much saying what Goodbeast said: make a weapon that speaks from the heart, with some examples of historically relevant weapons.”

  
“A weapon that speaks from the heart… Sounds like a challenge, since mine’s not even beating anymore.”

  
“Looks like we’re gonna have to spend a lot of time on this together then.”

  
“I’m free after school if you are?” Brian suggested.

  
“Today?” Damien asked, surprised, “I, um, well I-”

  
“Don’t worry about it,” Brian said with a smile as the school bell rung in the class signalling second period, “some other time maybe?”

  
“Oh, yeah, that um, sounds good!” Damien said, internally kicking himself as he watched Brian gather his things and leave for his second lesson – a lesson he and Brian wouldn’t be sharing that day. After Brian and the rest of the class had left, Damien hurriedly grabbed his things and shoved them into his bag and B-lined for an exit out of the school in order to get to the bathrooms.

  
When he eventually arrived at the bathrooms he let out an almighty yell before making an attempt to punch the bathroom wall again, but with his hands still sore and bandaged up, it hurt a bit too much to put any real force behind his attacks. Damien stood there and recalled how Brian had appeared after he’d cut his knuckles from punching the wall just two days prior, and he gave the wall one last punch in hope that maybe Brian would show up again. But he wouldn’t, and Damien knew it. He slumped against the wall and thought for a few moments. How the fuck did he manage to let such a good opportunity slip through his fingers, the prank didn’t even have anything to do with it, but it was a chance to see Brian. And he’d just let it go!

  
“What do you think you’re doing?” a smooth and familiar voice questioned. Damien looked up to see Vera stood in front of him: arms crossed, hair angry looking and a scowl on her face that could make a baby cry.

  
“I don’t have a class right now.”

  
“You do.”

  
“I don’t have a class with _him_.” Damien retaliated, “No point going to class if he’s not there.”

  
“Hmm?”

  
“You know what I mean, if he’s not there so I can gain his trust there’s no point. Look, I’m pretty sure I have gym with him third or fourth period so get off my fucking case.”

  
“Listen Damien, we all want this prank to be good, no, better than good. We all want this to be amazing. We don’t want to just prank, we mean to ensure he’s scarred after – that’s the funny part. So, if you don’t deliver on your side of all this, we’ll all be _very_ disappointed.”

  
“Don’t get your snakes in a twist Vera, trust me, I’ll even be the one to hammer in the nails. It’ll happen.”

  
“Good, good.” Vera replied, smirking, “I mean, a prank is a prank, but my methods of torture for economic gain have to start somewhere. Even if we don’t get cash out of him for it, it’s educational don’t you think?”

  
“Sure.” Damien replied, being compliant wasn’t exactly his style, but he felt Vera may suspect him more if he disagreed.

  
Vera’s phone promptly began ringing, and after she grabbed it from her jacket pocket and read the notifications contents, she spoke: “I gotta go, seems Polly wound up in Jail after getting some OAP’s at an old people’s home to do coke with her. Yeah they all died.”

  
“What are you gonna do about it?”

  
“Well somebody has to pay her bail you idiot.” Vera replied before sharply turning around and walking off (presumably to get a car over to the police station).

  
“Vera spending money?” Damien muttered to himself as he flopped down onto the grass to try and relax, “Ugh, whatever, I don’t give a shit.”

  
  
                             --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
After missing second period and break by sleeping through both, Damien woke up just before third lesson – he had another class with Brian. Needing to arrive at the gym, he got himself up and rushed over to the changing rooms that were situated inside the building, he didn’t want to be late after all. He made it to the class with seconds to spare before the bell rung signalling third period had begun, he trapesed in with the rest of the class and hung his school bag up on one of the dozens of pegs that were drilled into the wall. Being able to smell the spare Gym clothes from the other side of the room they were lying in, Damien was relieved that he had at least brought his kit in with him that morning. Just as he was about to start getting changed, he noticed another monster hang their large jacket and school bag on the peg next to his – Brian.

  
“Hey Damien.” Brian greeted, “Mind if I hang my stuff here?”

  
“Not too much.” Damien said frowning but secretly ecstatic, “How was class?”

  
“Boring, way more boring than first lesson.” Brian stated, “But hey, Gym should be fun.”

  
“Yeah, I guess.” Damien agreed as he watched Brian remove his shirt.

  
Needless to say, it was impossible for Damien _not_ to blush at the sight of something like _that._ How Brian believed that he himself wasn’t an attractive guy was something Damien definitely couldn’t understand. Yes, parts of his skin were completely missing so you could visibly see large sections of muscle and tissue left uncovered (especially just above his right shoulder and the left side of his torso), and yes, the skin that was there had a noticeable green hue to it, but damn, for a rotting corpse he was toned. Damien couldn’t quite figure out how a corpse could manage to keep their muscle without it deteriorating, he could clearly see Brian’s muscles: his arms and torso in particular – he was buff. 

  
“Where do you work out then?” Damien asked him, bringing himself back down to earth as he began to get changed himself.

  
“Um, I don’t really.”

  
“Shut the fuck up. I mean, you have to, right?” Damien asked as he pulled his gym shirt on and pulled his jeans off, promptly putting on his gym shorts afterwards.

  
“Nah, I guess I worked out a lot before I died? I don’t know, I just woke up as a corpse and the muscle stayed. Why? Does it make me look weird? Does it make my skin look too small for my body?” Brian asked, a little self-conscious as he too finished getting changed into his Gym shorts.

  
“What? No, no, I was just asking is all. You look good, I mean, for a rotting corpse you do, so... I was just curious. Don’t fuckin’ jump the gun man.”

  
“My bad.” Brian replied as he and Damien began to lace up their trainers, “I don’t know why you asked, really. You look good too, I mean.”

  
“Really?” Damien asked, his pointed ears perking up at the compliment, he had to bite his bottom lip in order to hold back a smile.

  
“Yeah, for a Prince of Hell who acts like an ass 90% of the time.”

  
“WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE-”

  
“You’re pretty cool the other 10%.”

  
_Goddamnit,_ Damien thought to himself, _Why’s he got to say shit like this?_

  
After he finished up trying his laces, Brian stood up and looked around; the rest of the class seemed to be leaving the changing room and filtering into the Gym Hall – no doubt coach would have them play dodgeball again. He looked down at Damien (who was still tying his laces up) and eventually spoke:

  
“Well, I’m all dressed, so I’ll see you in there.”

  
“Okay.”

  
“If we get to choose our team, we should team up together on the same team!”

  
“Sounds cool, I’ll see you in there.”

  
Watching Brian leave the changing room, Damien knew he was only falling in deeper – no way in Hell he wasn’t in love with Brian. But with every time he felt his heart stop or pound, he knew just how badly he was lying to Brian, his actual motives – even if he didn’t exactly want to be a part of it in the first place – were despicable. No way in Hell Brian would forgive him after all of this. As though falling in love wasn’t an odd enough feeling for Damien, the young Prince of Hell felt another sensation rise in his gut – guilt. Again. Guilt. He’d never felt guilty about anything he’d ever done before, so Brian’s ability to open up all of these alien sensations within Damien only made him more uneasy.

It seemed it was impossible for all this to end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any comments are welcome! please leave a kudos if you enjoyed :)


	4. Trying to Text (and failing a bit) - Part 1

**WEEK 1 – SATURDAY**  
  
  
19: 28     **Brian:** Hey man, it’s Brian. This is definitely Damien, right?  
  
  
19: 28   **Damien:** Yh, what do u want?  
  
  
19: 29   **Brian:** Bored.  
  
  
19: 29   **Damien:** What do u want me 2 do about it?  
  
  
19: 30   **Brian:** Talk.  
  
  
19: 30   **Damien:** Srsly?  
  
  
19: 30    **Brian:** Yeh.  
  
  
19: 31   **Brian:** Plz?  
  
  
19: 31   **Brian:** Damiennnn  
  
  
19:31    **Brian:** Damiennnnnn

  
19: 31   **Damien:** FINE OKAY SHIT WUU2?   
  
  
19: 32   **Brian:** Just woke up, u?  
  
  
19: 32   **Damien:** Mid way through setting an old people’s home on fire.  
  
  
19: 32   **Brian:** O, how’s that?  
  
  
19: 33   **Damien:** Kinda boring, not my best fire.  
  
  
19: 33   **Brian:** Were they that good 2 begin with?  
  
  
19: 33   **Damien:** Go fuck urself my arson record is metal.  
  
  
19: 34   **Brian:** Joking! Guess I can’t text a joke, doesn’t rlly sound funny if u don’t actually say it.

  
19: 34   **Brian:** Sorry.  
  
  
19: 35   **Damien:** Whatever. I gtga so c u later  
  
  
19: 35   **Brian:** gtga?  
  
  
19: 37   **Damien** : Means ‘got to get away’ as in im running from the police rn  
  
  
19: 37   **Brian:** Ah, well have fun with that. C u later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so short! But i really just wanted to show that their relationship develops out of school time as well! The next chapter will be like this too, but the meatier chapters will come back as of the WEEK 2 - MONDAY chapter! Thanks guys :)


	5. Trying to Text (and failing a bit) - Part 2

**WEEK 1 - SUNDAY  
  
  
  
** 13:45  **Brian:** Hey  
  
  
13:45  **Brian:** Hey  
  
  
13:45  **Brian:** Hey  
  
  
13:45  **Brian:**  Hey  
  
  
13:45  **Damien:** FUCK I GET IT FINE. HI ROTFACE.  
  
  
13:46  **Brian:** Be nice? :)  
  
  
13:46  **Damien:** Piss off.  
  
  
13:46  **Brian:** Damn maybe i'll delete ur number since u aren't gonna be nice.  
  
  
13:47  **Damien:**  Don't pull that shit  
  
  
13:47  **Brian:** Be a little friendlier then?  
  
  
13:47  **Damien:** I don't do friendly  
  
  
13:47  **Brian:** I can tell, trust me. U punched the lunch lady for giving u salad  
  
  
13:48  **Damien:** her fault there were no knives in it.  
  
  
13:48  **Brian:** being polite is good, u should try it  
  
  
13:49  **Damien:** Fuck than man.  
  
  
13:49  **Brian:** How was the fire yesterday?  
  
  
13:49  **Damien:** shit, but i got away, so im not too pissed.  
  
  
19:50  **Brian:** well im glad u weren't arrested. classes just got interesting now ur in them.  
  
  
  
13:55  **[DAMIEN IS TYPING]**  
   
           Brian the truth is that this, it's all a prank. But i actually rlly like you, like, have feelings 4 u.  
  
  
  
13:55  **[DAMIEN IS TYPING]**

           Brian the truth is that this, it's all a prank. But i actually rlly like you  
  
           Brian the truth is that this, it's all a prank.  
  
           Brian the truth  
  
  
  
13:55  **[DAMIEN IS TYPING]**  
  
  
13:56  **Damien:** Brian.  
  
  
13:56  **Brian:** Damien.  
  
  
13:56  **Damien:** R u free next saturday?  
  
  
13:57  **Brian:** Yh, why?  
  
  
13:57  **Damien:** The project. We should meet up aftr school n shit 4 it.  
  
  
13:57  **Brian:** Sounds cool, my place?  
  
  
13:57  **Brian:** No parents, place is pretty big, u could stay as long as u want.  
  
  
13:58  **Damien:** K, ur place it is. Time?  
  
  
13:58  **Brian:** around 2?  
  
  
13:58  **Damien:** Yh, sounds good man.  
  
  
13:59  **Brian:** Cool. i gtg, i c you tomorrow  
  
  
13:59  **Damien:** See you tomorrow man  
  
  
13:59  **Brian:** Shit, can u bring in the jacket i lent you tomorrow? it was my good 1  
  
  
13:59  **Damien:** Sure  
  
  
14:00  **Brian:** Thanks  



	6. Dumped by Your Friend.

**WEEK 2 – MONDAY**

Damien was pissed. Extremely pissed. Like, he wanted to set fire to the whole city kind of pissed. He’d even been trying to have a good day that day, but apparently, he couldn’t even manage that! It’d all started at home: he woke up in his large Queen-sized bed, the sheets having been pushed to the end of the bed during the night, he let out a loud yawn as he got himself out of bed and headed to his private bathroom. There he began his morning process of cleaning up: brushing his teeth, shaving (if need be) and polishing the one and a half horns on his head – all of this after getting a quick shower. After heading out of the bathroom he quickly threw on his usual outfit and made his way downstairs to grab breakfast. He’d woken up for school an hour late, which was pretty good for Damien. He’d just put some bread in the toaster when his Dad came downstairs too.  
  
  
“Morning Damien.” His father, Chris, greeted him with.  
  
  
“Wassup, coffee?” Damien asked as he put the kettle on for himself; the last time he’d tried to heat up some water with his own fire, he’d nearly destroyed the whole kitchen (which his Dads definitely didn’t appreciate).  
  
  
“Sure.” Chris replied, a look of surprise and apprehension on his face, “Why?”  
  
  
“What?”  
  
  
“Why are you offering me a coffee?”  
  
  
“Can I not do that?” Damien asked, slightly miffed as the kettle finished coming to a boil.  
  
  
“No, you can, it’s just the last time you asked me was when you were six, and that nearly killed me.”  
  
  
“Hey! That was good quality dirt and rainwater that I’d found.”  
  
  
As Damien finished his sentence and poured himself some hot water into a mug, his other Dad, who was called Alex, entered the kitchen. Chris was the buffer of the two, and taller, however Chris was cleanshaven whereas Alex had more stubble.  
  
  
“Morning Damien.” Alex stated after giving his husband a kiss on the cheek.  
  
  
“Honey,” Chris began, “Damien here just offered me a cup of coffee.”  
  
  
Alex stared at his husband, struck dumb. Eventually he came back down to earth, a warm smile on his face as he made his way over to his son, he wrapped his arms around Damien’s shoulders as he spoke: “So, who is it?”  
  
  
“Who’s… Who’s who?”  
  
  
“Who is it that you like?” Alex asked excitedly, “Oh, I always wondered if this day would arrive – they must be special if you’re doing acts of kindness.”  
  
  
“Fuck off Dad… There’s nobody.” Damien replied as he grew more and more flustered.  
  
  
“Yeah, sure there isn’t.” Chris snickered.  
  
  
“WILL YOU TWO SHUT THE FUCK UP? I’M NOT IN LOVE WITH ANYBODY GODDAMNIT. GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK.”  
  
  
And with that Damien stormed out of the house, steam practically billowing out of his ears as he opened up his portal that took him out of his Dads’ circle and Hell and just ten minutes away from the high school. Once Chris and Alex heard the front door slam shut, they looked at one another before breaking into large grins.  
  
  
“Oh he’s definitely fallen for someone.” Chris chuckled as he took the toast Damien had forgotten to take with him and began to butter it.  
  
  
“Completely. You were just like that with me when we met.”  
  
  
“Ah, I still remember the time I snuck into your room and tried to kill you in your sleep.”  
  
  
“Yeah… That definitely ended up turning into something else.” Alex said with a cheeky wink.  
  
  
“Shut up.” Chris replied, trying to stop himself from blushing and failing horribly.

 

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
By the time Damien had entered the school building, his mood hadn’t gotten any better, in fact, it’d gotten even worse: with a detention for being late more than certain, missing breakfast, what’d happened with his Dads that morning and the fact he’d missed a lesson with Brian, he was about ready to kill someone. And he did. When school security arrived to check his bag, he immediately killed them both, and continued his journey to second period: he had a research class with Brian in Weapon Tech, but the class would take place in the Library. He arrived around ten minutes late (much to the annoyance of Mr. Goodbeast) and plonked himself next to Brian, but he sat himself quite a distance away from his tech partner.  
  
  
“Hey man, where were you this morning?” Brian asked, his computer monitor already filled with a few tabs of research.  
  
  
No response.  
  
  
“Damien, did you hear me? Did you set off an explosion and go deaf or something? I don’t know sign language.”  
  
  
No response.  
  
  
“Umm… Okay? Well, I’ll get back to researching. If you ever want to, you know, actually talk to me, I’m right here.”  
  
  
No response.  
  
  
Brian sighed, a long and heavy sigh, before returning to the work that sat on his monitor. He was confused, to say the least, that his Tech partner (who had actually been rather friendly with him previously) was now completely ignoring him. Had he said something wrong? Had one of his texts annoyed Damien to the point of hating him? Wait, did Damien hate him now? Brian promptly shook all his presumptions out of his head, he wasn’t going to assume the worst – he’d just have to wait till Damien started speaking to him, or maybe he’d continue to attempt to make contact? Either way, he’d leave the young demon alone for now; he probably just wanted time to himself or something. Yeah, that had to be it.  
  
  
Now, Damien couldn’t lie to himself. He wasn’t all that sure on why he was suddenly ignoring Brian. Not only was it stupid because of the project they had to work on together, but Brian didn’t deserve the cold shoulder. Maybe what his Dad had asked him had gotten to him a bit too much, after all, for his parents to take note and pretty much guess that he was in love on the first try… It’d freaked him out to know it was so obvious to those around him, that he had feelings for someone. Maybe Brian had noticed too? Maybe he was just being nice by staying around? Maybe it was best that Brian stayed away, after all, he couldn’t exactly be blamed by Vera if he and Brian stopped talking without explanation – the group would just find someone else to bury, right?  
  
  
After the bell had rung, signalling the end of the class, Damien was quick to grab his stuff and rush out of the library as fast as his legs could carry him. But Brian was still determined to get through to his Tech partner, and hurriedly gathered all his things into his bag before racing to catch up with Damien. That morning was actually one of the few times they had class together twice in a row – _Spooks and Spells 101._ Damien looked head on and refused to make eye contact with the taller monster speed walking next to him; why was he so fucking persistent? However, Brian didn’t actually say a word, he just, kept walking next to him as though nothing had happened; was be brain dead? Had the decay destroyed his ability to tell he was getting completely ignored? Damien had no clue, but after thinking on it and coming to a realization in the library; if it meant Brian wasn’t gonna get buried un-alive for a week, then he was going to keep ignoring him – even if it hurt.  
  
  
After entering Spooks and Spells 101 and sitting himself right at the very back of the class, Damien saw, out of the corner of his eye, Brian sit next to him like he usually did, the exact same desk and everything. It was almost annoying. Almost. But Damien couldn’t help but feel a little happy knowing Brian hadn’t just fucked him off straight away, but it also made him feel a tad uneasy: Brian wasn’t going away and therefore leaving himself at risk of being buried 6ft underground. Usually a prank like that would be boringly plain in Damien’s books, but Brian was different, Brian had actually become one of the few monsters he didn’t want to hurt, one of the few monster he didn’t want to see get hurt.  
  
  
This was all just one big mess.  
  
  
For the next hour, as the teacher droned on and on, Damien would occasionally look out of the corner of his eye to see when Brian was up to; most of the time the tall zombie was sad there twiddling a pen between two of his fingers. He didn’t seem to be looking over at him at all, so Damien tried to force Brian to the back of his mind – hell, he even tried focusing on the lesson to help. But to no avail, the guilt was slowly eating away at him. It seemed no matter what, he would feel guilty: if he stayed around Brian he felt guilty, if he ignored him and cut off contact he felt guilty, it was like there was no avoiding that stupid emotion! Over the course of the hour his mood only seemed to turn more and more sour as he consumed himself in his own inner monologue, trying to play both the devil and the non-existent angel that sat on his shoulder as he tried to figure out not only his own emotions, but what the best thing to do was. But unfortunately for Damien, situations like the one he was currently in take more than an hour-long lesson to figure out – so he was pretty much back at square one.  
  
  
When the bell rung signalling the end of the second lesson, Damien, again, speedily packed his things away and rushed out the classroom – he didn’t have a class with Brian next, so he was going to head over to the bathrooms. But the young demon was to soon realise that Brian was walking beside him yet again, and for a long while the zombie didn’t say a word, perhaps he was expecting Damien to talk first? He didn’t know, but Damien was adamant on remaining silent – it was easier that way, for Brian, it was for the best. But if he didn’t put Brian off for good, he was going to continue following him, he was going to keep sticking around and unknowingly leave himself in more and more danger as the days went by.  
  
  
“Um, Damien? Is everything alright-”  
  
  
“JESUS ROTFACE DON’T YOU GET THE FUCKING PICTURE?” Damien said, spinning around suddenly to face Brian; he tried to put on the angriest face he could muster, and it seemed to be working, “I’M IGNORING YOU, YOU FUCKING IDIOT.”  
  
  
“Damien I don’t understand, did I do something?”  
  
  
“JUST FUCK OFF BRIAN, I’M SICK OF YOUR SHIT, SO QUIT STALKING ME.” Damien yelled, promptly giving Brian a hard shove in the chest before turning his back on him and storming off. As he practically ran off to get to the bathrooms, Damien just managed to hide what seemed like a pained expression on his face. This time as he rushed off, Brian didn’t follow. Instead, as countless monsters rushed around heading to wherever they were heading to, Brian allowed himself to be swallowed up by the chaotic crowd, too struck dumb by Damien’s harsh words to move.  
  
  
“Hey Brian, what are you doing just stood there big guy?” Vicky asked as she suddenly appeared by Brian’s side, “Did you fall asleep standing up again?”  
  
  
“No…” Brian replied slowly, “Though I kinda wish I was.”  
  
  
“Hm? How so?”  
  
  
“I think… I think Damien just ditched me.”  
  
  
“Really? I thought he really liked you?”  
  
  
“Not gonna brag, so did I… Yeah, I don’t think I wanna go to prom this year.”  
  
  
“What? Shut up! This is our last prom Brian! If you don’t go with Damien at least go with your friends.”  
  
  
“Why? You have a thing for Scott, and Scott loves everyone so you’re pretty much set. I know for a fact Oz has a crush – I read their diary by accident but trust me they have a good fucking chance. Not to mention Amira is just a badass all around so who the hell wouldn’t go to prom with her?”  
  
  
“Brian…”  
  
  
“Why the fuck can everyone else get a happy ending except me? I haven’t asked for shit except someone I like to like me back.”  
  
  
“Brian maybe he’s having an off day-” Vicky tried to suggest as she saw Brian get more and more upset.  
  
  
“Vicky he just told me he’s ignoring me on purpose, that he’s sick of me and that I’m a stalker. Let’s face it, nobody wants me for Prom, let alone the guy I like.” Brian exclaimed, the scene he was creating growing bigger and bigger by the minute.  
  
  
Vicky remained calm, although surprised by how much Brian, one of her best friends and overall gentle giant, was reacting. Instead, she looked up at him and gave him a warm and heartfelt smile, “Come on big guy, I think you and me should have a talk.”  
  
  
“Do we have to talk?” Brian asked as he attempted to calm himself down, clearly attempting to give a smile despite the small tears wanting to form in his eyes. He'd never been dumped by a friend before, let alone the person he liked - and if he had then it'd never been as cruel as that. For a zombie, to say his heart was actually hurting was a pretty big deal.  
  
  
“How about I buy three tubs of ice cream and we binge watch BooPaul’s Drag race at your place?”  
  
  
Brian looked down at Vicky, and the forced smile he had became a little more genuine. His eyes softened as he brought Vicky in for one of his bear hugs, “I could do with that.”  
  
  
“Then let’s go!” Vicky said with a grin, “School’s not gonna really miss us for the rest of the day.”  


 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Damien had never felt so shitty. Nope, he’d set countless charity buildings on fire over the years and had never even been left feeling even remotely shitty about it. But no, as he sat outside the bathrooms and watched the clouds walk by in the sky, Damien knew he’d never felt so shitty before. Normally when things didn’t go his way he just yelled and went on a rampage, but it was almost as if he just didn’t have the energy to do… anything, anymore. Instead the young demon let out a long, long sigh before lying himself down on the freshly cut grass.  
  
  
_Lie down, use your arms to rest your head. Make sure you’re comfortable, and close your eyes._ Damien thought to himself as he recalled what Brian had taught him to relax, _Slow breaths help too…_  
  
  
He tried to make his mind go blank, a clean slate, as he allowed the gentle breeze to brush past him. Lying there seemed to help, help him clear his head, help him realise what was going to happen in the future because of what he’d done: Brian would probably never talk to him again, even if he said he didn’t really mean it, Damien knew the tall zombie wouldn’t be interested in being friends anymore; but it also meant Brian was presumably safe from being buried alive for a week, which almost made it worth it in Damien’s head – even if he tried to tell Brian about the whole prank, he’d have to explain how he (Brian) got roped into it anyway, he’d have to explain that he had a crush on him. And that was something Damien wasn’t ready for, at all. It was like a heavy weight was sat on his chest as he thought of all this, and it was almost tricky to breathe. Was this… was this regret? Was this that emotion his Dads always talked about him feeling one day? This was it? Well, it certainly explained why he felt so shitty.  
  
  
“Well…” Damien said aloud to himself after letting out another sigh, “LaVey, you’ve really done it this time.”


	7. Sometimes Friends are all You Need.

**WEEK 2 - WEDNESDAY**

Now, as much as re-watching both seasons 8 and 9 of Boo Paul’s Drag Race did actually help Brian ignore the sudden ending of his growing friendship with Damien, it didn’t solve his problem or how hurt he truly felt. All day Tuesday he looked glum and tired as he tried to get through the day, all the while Damien didn’t go anywhere near him or try to make contact. It all felt too abrupt and out of nowhere, and he had no idea what he’d done or said for it to have taken place so suddenly. And it didn’t help when they had Weapon Tech that day that not only did Damien ignore him the whole time, but he chose to instead make small talk with Amira, Oz and Vicky instead! Brian got the picture, Damien clearly had to hate him, but why he felt that way was something the tall zombie simply couldn’t wrap his head around: he didn’t remember saying or doing anything wrong to Damien, and he certainly hadn’t been mean about him behind his back – so why the sudden cold shoulder?  
  
  
After class ended for Weapon Tech, both Damien and Brian began to pack their things away at exactly the same time, both realising this they each paused awkwardly before Damien continued putting his things away and eventually stormed out of the class room to his next lesson, or maybe just to somewhere Brian wouldn’t be for the next hour – presumably the latter. Brian let out a gust of air through his nose as a means of showing his friends he was still pretty upset before gathering the rest of his own things and leaving the class without them. For Amira, Oz and Vicky, they could tell their best friend was quite possibly heartbroken at the sudden and unexplainable turn of events.  
  
  
“I don’t get it.” Amira muttered as she slung her bag across her shoulder, “I didn’t think Lighter Head could be anymore of an asshat and then he blows himself out of the water.”  
  
  
“I-I feel bad for Brian.” Oz stated, as they too put on their school bag, “It’s n-not fair on him n-not knowing why.”  
  
  
“There has to be a reason why.” Vicky added, a look of confusion on her face as she grabbed her things and followed her two friends out of the Weapon Tech classroom. The trio made their way through the maze-like hallways of the school, trying to make their way to their next classes in a timely fashion, “Damien may not be the sweetest of people, but everyone has a reason for ditching someone else – no matter how much you play the bad guy.”  
  
  
“I don’t think he’s playing the bad guy.” Amira huffed, clearly annoyed with the demon’s actions, “Look at Brian, he’s now falling apart in more ways than physical! It’s been what, two days? And he only got on with the guy for like a week.”  
  
  
“Amira, you don’t get it.” Vicky replied, “Brian’s liked Damien for a while now, like a _while_. He’s not the type who just gets crushes on people you know that – in all honesty I think Damien could have been his first proper crush.”  
  
  
“Well he sure knows how to pick ‘em.” Amira commented, clearly being sarcastic.  
  
  
“A-Amira, don’t say that.” Oz interjected, “Brian must be so confused right n-now.”  
  
  
“He hasn’t been sleeping at all.” Vicky added, “I’ve been staying with him at his place ever since Damien ditched him, to keep an eye on him and give him company, and he just sits there on the couch watching cheesy rom-coms.”  
  
  
“Wait so Brian’s not sleeping either?” Amira asked, stopping dead in her tracks, “Our friend Brian, the guy that fell asleep on a rollercoaster.”  
  
  
“The very same.” Vicky replied, clearly just as freaked out as Amira at the news.  
  
  
“W-we should d-do something to cheer him u-up.” Oz suggested.  
  
  
“I could fight that half horned son of a bitch.” Amira suggested, cracking her knuckles as she did so.  
  
  
“Amira I love you, but you’d lose, besides, literally fighting fire with fire isn’t gonna help Brian.” Vicky replied.  
  
  
The trio went quiet for a brief moment as they all tried to figure out what they could do to try and make Brian cheer up, even if only a little. It seemed none of them would come up with an idea until a lightbulb went off in Oz’s head.  
  
  
“R-remember that Ice Cream place w-we all used to go to? Brian always l-loved it there.”  
  
  
“That’s true.” Amira agreed, “Plus we haven’t went in like, a year? With Highschool being Highschool we never really got a chance.”  
  
  
“That’s where we’ll take him! Oz you’re a genius!” Vicky squealed, “Is everyone free afterschool?”  
  
  
“Yeah, I can only really do today anyway, I’m busy tomorrow.” Amira replied, remaining vague as to what she was busy with the next day.  
  
  
“I’m free today t-too. Afterschool?” Oz asked.  
  
  
“Yup!” Vicky replied happily, “Well then, it’s settled, I’ll bring Brian and we’ll meet the both of you at The Parlour for around 4?”  
  
  
“Sounds cool.” Amira said as they walked past her next class, “I’m in here next so I’ll see you guys later.”  
  
  
Seconds later Oz’s classroom was in sight, so they said their goodbyes to Vicky and headed in to class. This left Vicky roaming the hallways to get to her next class, a large and toothy grin spread across her face as she quietly hoped the plan would cheer Brian up at least a little.  
  
  
At the end of the day Brian left his last class, simply wanting to go home and do nothing, he wasn’t exactly thrilled when Vicky and her chirpy nature suddenly rushed up to him. Even if she was one of his best friends, that didn’t mean he wanted to see her.  
  
  
“Vicky… What’s up?” Brian asked as countless monsters shoved and made their way past the pair of them (which made sense since they were blocking a large portion of the hallway.

  
“What’s up is that you’re coming with me!” she exclaimed excitedly.

“Where?”  
  
  
“It’s a surprise.”  
  
  
“I don’t do surprises right now, and I’m not exactly in the best mood if you couldn’t tell.”  
  
  
“Oh trust me big guy, I could, we all could. But that’s why you need to come with me! We’re gonna turn that frown upside down!”  
  
  
Brian stood there, unimpressed, “Yeah, I appreciate the offer, but I’m going home.”  
  
  
“No you’re not.” Vicky smiled, refusing to give in.  
  
  
“Yeah, I really am.”  
  
  
“Make a deal with me.”  
  
  
“What?” Brian asked, exasperated by Vicky’s pushiness about the whole thing.  
  
  
“You come with me, and you stay for the surprise for like, thirty minutes, and then you’re free to go!”  
  
  
“Really?”

  
“Really really.”

  
“Promise?”

  
“On my unbeating heart!” Vicky said as she placed one of her hands on her chest as though she were taking and oath.  
  
  
Brian pondered for a moment, and eventually concluded that half an hour of his life wasn’t too much, since he had a lifetime of being heartbroken ahead of him anyway – he may as well let them try and cheer him up.  
  
  
“Fine. But I will be going after half an hour.”  
  
  
“GREAT!” Vicky screamed, “Come on big guy, close your eyes. Do it!”  
  
  
Again Brian gave in and did as he was told, and after he did so he promptly felt Vicky grab him by the wrist and begin to lead him out of the school and to where ever this surprise was taking place. For the next few minutes he followed Vicky blindly as she dragged him about, remaining quiet as to where she was taking him whenever he would ask. After around ten or so minutes, Brian heard the distinct sound of a bell ringing, as though Vicky had pushed open a door of sorts and taken him inside. He felt himself being sat down in a cushy and comfortable seat by Vicky, and judging by the sounds only just escaping her, she couldn’t wait much longer to show him what the surprise was.  
  
  
“Okay big guy, open your eyes!” she half squealed.  
  
  
Brian did as he was told, and the sight before him was definitely surprising. In front of him was a gargantuan ice cream sundae complete with sparklers and edible confetti and countless scoops of all sorts of ice cream flavours. It was bright and fun looking, and just behind that on the other side of the table the sundae sat on, Brian could see Amira and Oz looking at him; Amira had a large toothy grin on, and despite Oz’s lack of mouth, Brian could tell (by the creases by their eyes) that they were smiling too.  
  
  
“SURPRISE!” Vicky yelled as she gave Brian a large bear hug.  
  
  
After she let go Brian let his eyes wander around the room, and memories came flooding back, “Is this… is this the-”  
  
  
“YEAH IT IS.” Vicky replied, clearly very happy with the execution of the surprise.  
  
  
“Vicky, chill out.” Amira said as she signalled for Vicky to come sit next to her, Vicky did so and after she did Amira spoke again, “We thought you could do with cheering up, so we decided to take you here, for old time’s sake.”  
  
  
“Guys…” Brian said, “You even got our sundae?”  
  
  
“The v-very same!” Oz said, “I’d w-written down w-what was in it, and k-kept the note.”  
  
  
There was a moment of easy silence as Brian looked at his friends, he felt a smile form on his lips as he looked at all three of them, “You guys… You guys really are the best.”  
  
  
“We know.” Amira said with a smirk as she signalled for everyone (including herself) to grab a spoon from the cup of spoons that sat at the centre of the pink parlour table, and the four of them promptly began to dig in. It took a while for Brian to really get into the situation, but after around twenty minutes he felt himself again: laughing and joking after every other mouthful of ice cream, focusing on the friends in front of him, it was the best feeling. And by the time half an hour had passed, Vicky spoke:  
  
  
“Well Brian, it’s been half an hour, I’ll keep my side of the deal. You can leave if you want.”  
  
  
Brian looked at her directly before replying, “Now, why would I leave when I’m having the time of my life right here?”  
  
  
With that the group resumed their antics and joking and storytelling, all of them were relieved to see the old Brian had come back. And after an hour or so, the sundae was out of sight, and the four of them felt ready to enter a food coma from the sheer amount of ice cream they’d all eaten. Slightly exhausted from all the eating, Brian decided to change the topic of conversation.  
  
  
“What do you guys think I should do?” he asked as he began ripping at the corners of an unused napkin, allowing the pieces to fall on the table as he spoke.  
  
  
“About what?” asked Oz.  
  
  
“You know what. Damien. What would you guys do if you were me?”  
  
  
The other three paused for a while, each considering what had taken place, and eventually Amira replied first: “I’d forget about him. What he did to you wasn’t fair, you haven’t even done anything!”  
  
  
“Y-yeah,” Oz agreed, “I don’t think he deserves you, if he did that. But at the same time, you love him still – don’t you? So it’s not that easy.”  
  
  
“Exactly.” Brian replied.  
  
  
“Well,” Vicky began, “I think if you love him, you should at least hear him out. There has to be a reason he’s done this, no matter how stupid that reason could turn out to be.”  
  
  
“He said I was a stalker…”

  
“I think he was lying.” Replied Vicky, remaining calm, “I’ve seen the way he acts around you, he’s a completely different Damien. And I think if you could have seen that, you’d have been able to tell that whatever he said to you the day he ditched you, wasn’t really the truth. At least, I don’t think it was.”  
  
  
“So you’re saying… I need to give him another chance?”  
  
  
“I never said that.” said Vicky, “I said you need to find out the truth and hear him out. After that, it’s up to you if you think he gets that second chance.”  
  
  
“I still think he deserves to get his ass kicked.” Amira stated.

  
“W-whatever is best for you Brian,” Oz stuttered, “I’m sure you’ll know to m-make the right choice.”  
  
  
“Okay.” Brian stated, clearly mulling over all of their words, and after a few seconds of thought, he had an answer he was happy to share, “I’ll try and figure out the truth, and when I hear it I’ll think about forgiving him. I think for now I need to space to think of how to confront him about it, so I won’t try and speak to him tomorrow.”  
  
  
“At all?” asked Amira.  
  
  
“Not even a syllable.” replied Brian, “And on Friday, I’ll confront him about it all and see what he says. If he tells the truth, no matter what it is, then I’ll think about the second chance. But only if he wants it, and if I think he deserves it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooo what do you think's gonna happen guys? 
> 
> please leave a comment or kudos of you like the story! Thanks!


	8. The Old Damien Can't Come to The Phone Right Now.

**WEEK 2 – FRIDAY  
  
  
** Okay, so the whole “Abandon Brian to Protect Him” plan Damien had last minute set up wasn’t going to plan for one reason in particular: he actually missed Brian. He missed him and his stupid laugh and how overly fluffy the hood of his jackets always were, how he never seemed to really judge him and that he didn’t assume he was 100% violent. It was nice. All of Thursday Damien was practically dragging himself away from Brian, trying not to talk to him, every urge to ask him for equipment in class (that he secretly didn’t need) had to be buried deep down, every want to just talk to him again… If he was gonna protect Brian, he had to actually keep him safe, and safe meant the friendship had to end.  
  
  
Damien didn’t particularly feel like going to Prom now, not now he definitely wouldn’t have a date let alone any other incentive to go. Two weeks in to talking to Brian and he was hung up like they’d been together for two years (maybe even longer)! And he couldn’t help but feel a little hurt that Brian hadn’t at least tried to talk to him like he had all day Monday – was Brian already over him? That quickly? Even Damien had to admit the very idea stung a little. In fact, it did more that sting, it… pissed him off a little? Had his feelings _really_ been that one sided? Had he really been such and idiot as to think Brian was nice enough to care? Either way, he didn’t want to dwell on it.  
  
  
He couldn’t dwell on it.  
  
  
That Friday Damien showed up late to his classes, only just getting to school as the bell rang for the start of second lesson: _Weapon Tech_. Shit. Why did it have to be the class where he was meant to sit right next to Brian? Either way, he would just have to suppress how he felt for the next hour and get on with it. As he made with way through the countless hallways of the school, making his way down to class (where he would undoubtedly be late), he felt something, no, someone was following him. Instinctively he turned around, fists clenched, only to find Vera at the other end of the hallway he’d been walking down – her expression didn’t give him hope of a casual chat.  
  
  
“The fuck do you want?” he asked as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, “I’ve got class to go to. Gotta stick to the plan and all that shit.”  
  
  
“Shut it Damien. I’m quite aware of the stunt you pulled on Monday. I tried giving you some time to redeem yourself, but Liam and Scott are both telling me that you and that green giant still aren’t talking.”  
  
  
“Look, just let me-”  
  
  
“Why are you trying to protect him?” Vera asked, the gaze in her eyes turning venomous as she looked at Damien directly, unblinking in her stare.  
  
  
“Bullshit am I trying to protect him. I’m Damien LaVey!”  
  
  
“Then why aren’t you talking to him?” Vera spat back.  
  
  
“Alright I snapped at him, not my fault he’s so fucking annoying,” Damien said, lying through his teeth, “I just need to get speaking to him again, okay? Why the fuck does it even have to be him? Surely, you’ve found someone who’s annoying since we first made this whole prank up?”  
  
  
“I have, believe me. But the whole point of this is to maintain a target. If you can’t even keep track of the original victim, then what’s the point? Take this all as a learning curve Damien.”  
  
  
“Whatever, can I get to class now?” Damien replied, near desperate for the conversation to end as quickly as possible.  
  
  
“Sure. But Damien?” Vera began as she began to turn her back to walk away, “If you don’t get Brian on your side, I’ll make sure something much worse than being buried alive happens to him. Understand?”  
  
  
Damien felt fire burn in the back of his throat as his fists clenched tightly in his jacket pockets. What the fuck did she have planned if he couldn’t fix things with Brian? Even worse, he knew Vera always kept her word when it came to shit like this. Before he could even reply, Vera had rounded a corner and was already out of sight…  
  
  
“Fuck…” Damien muttered under his breath, his eyes glued to the floor, “Fuck.” He muttered again, slightly louder than before, “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!” he yelled, each syllable being louder than the last one until finally he was screaming at the top of his lungs. As his cries reached peak volume he turned and laid a heavy punch into one of the many lockers that lined the hallway he stood in. Immediately he heard the groaning of metal being beaten out of shape, the crash of noise as his fist made contact with the locker door. He didn’t care about the faint throbbing that immediately began to grow in his right hand, he didn’t care about the unignorable amount of noise he’d just made, he didn’t about the number of teachers that would soon come rushing from their classrooms to inspect what had taken place. Before anyone could see it was definitely him that had just damaged school property, Damien sprinted out of the hallway and out of the school altogether, and without even realising, he’d taken himself to the bathrooms. Why was it always the bathrooms? Instead of punching one of its walls or lying on the grass to relax, Damien decided to rush inside, his plan to wreak havoc already playing out in his head.  
  
  
After entering the bathrooms the first thing he wanted to do was punch the mirrors into tiny shards before tearing down the stall walls and eventually stuffing every toilet full of toilet paper and setting them all on fire. He turned and faced the first mirror, he first already raised and poised to smash it to smithereens; but just as his first was about to make contact with the reflective surface, his whole body froze. Everything stopped except his breathing, as if someone had pressed the pause button on his rampage. Damien looked into the mirror in front of him, and he didn’t see anger, he didn’t see frustration, he didn’t even see annoyance… he saw panic. This was him panicking. And with what Vera had said to him playing over and over again in his mind, he couldn’t even deny it.  
  
  
He was panicking.  
  
  
His whole plan to save Brian had been for nought. It meant nothing, throwing away what he’d only recently created with Brian, meant nothing. Trying to protect him didn’t matter, because Vera and the others were still gonna do what they wanted, whether Damien was a part of it or not. It was going to happen no matter how hard Damien tried to stop it. Brian hated him, after what he’d said to him, Brian definitely hated him. But he couldn’t take it back, he couldn’t just apologise and expect everything to go back to how it was.  
  
  
None of this was fucking okay.  
  
  
For over and hour, Damien didn’t actually destroy anything, he just sat in one of the stalls, and allowed himself to think. He carved profanities and such into the closed stall door that stood in front of him and where he was sat as he tried to clear his head and reorganise everything, and it seemed to help a little. Not completely, but it was one of the rare occasions where destroying everything wasn’t actually the better option. As he sat and thought things through, he realised some things:  
  


  1. Vera was definitely going to keep her word if he didn’t sort things out with Brian.
  2. Brian probably wasn’t going to ask him to prom.
  3. Brian probably wasn’t even going to forgive him for what he said.
  4. Therefore, Brian was in more danger.
  5. None of this was worth it anymore.



  
It wasn’t. It couldn’t be worth it. Even if Brian forgave him, surely, he’d go right back to hating him when/if he discovered the plan to bury him alive? Brian still wasn’t safe from the prank, and at this point it was either let him get buried or let something even worse happen to him. Neither or which were particularly attractive options for Damien. So why the fuck was he letting himself get caught up in all this? If he gave a shit because of how he felt about Brian… Then he’d just have to stop. Stop liking him completely. Exactly, that’s what he’d have to do. Then, no matter what happened to Brian, Damien wouldn’t give a shit; maybe he’d even laugh with the others? Yeah, that’s what he’d do! It was so simple he wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought of it before? He could just go back to his old self: the Damien that didn’t give a shit, the Damien that didn’t even turn up to school for weeks on end, the Damien that could do what he wanted whenever he wanted and not feel bad, the Damien everyone assumed was just violent, the Damien nobody lent their jackets to, the Damien nobody genuinely smiled at… That Damien. Yeah. That Damien had to be better than the current Damien.  
  
  
He’d try and talk to Brian, sort things out, and if he did then he knew it’d be a lot better than whatever Vera’s Plan B was. And if Brian didn’t want to go back to being friends, then Vera’s Plan B would just happen, and he’d stand back and watch. Simple.  
  
  
After figuring out what had to be the right thing to do, Damien heard the bell ring signalling the end of break; there was one more lesson before lunch. It was Spooks and Spells, which he had with Brian, so he’d have to hurry a bit if he wanted to get his usual seat- No. No, he wasn’t going to do that. That wasn’t what the old Damien did. Surely the rest of his group would be around somewhere, skipping lessons too? They had to be, he wanted to show them the old Damien was back (even if they hadn’t noticed he’d gone in the first place)! He wanted to prove to them all he was still the number one badass in the school. And sure enough he found them at the Auditorium, well, not that any of them were doing anything to do with acting.  
  
  
Scott, Liam, Polly, Miranda and Vera were all sat next to one another in the Auditorium seats; Polly was repeatedly trying to do a line of cocaine off of one of Vera’s snakes, Miranda was having one of her slaves polish her collection of cutlery, Scott was doing push ups along one of the rows of concrete seating and Liam was completely immersed in his phone. As Damien arrived to join them, Scott finished with his physical training and began a conversation with everyone:  
  
  
“So guys, does anyone have someone they want to take to prom? Liam? Do you have a guy or girl crush you want to take to prom?”  
  
  
“Gender’s irrelevant Scott, god, catch up with society. There aren’t just boys and girls, there’s a spectrum, some people don’t even stick to the binary! You can’t ask something as primitive as if I like a guy or a girl. But yes, not that I’m meeting the clichés of society by doing so, but there is someone I’m interested in. But only a little.”  
  
  
By the time Liam had finished his last sentence, he looked up to see Scott was completely lost. Literally. He’d found Liam’s’ words too smart, had completely lost track of the conversation and had wondered off to the nearby forest, where Liam could see a gang of Furries begin to make contact with the gentle Werewolf; clearly trying to lure him deeper into the forest.  
  
  
“Wassup bitches?” Damien proclaimed as he made himself known to the group.  
  
  
“Sorry Damien, I’d stick around but Scott’s gonna get himself into a real mess if I don’t save him from the Forest Furries.” Liam muttered as he picked himself up off the floor and began to make his way over to where Scott was happily holding hands with a neon green Fox and laughing with the rest of the “herd” of students in Fur suits.  
  
  
As Liam walked away, Damien spoke again, “Whatever. What’d everyone else doing then?”  
  
  
“I’m polishing all my cutlery!” Miranda chirped before looking at the slave who was really polishing her cutlery and saying (in the same cheery voice), “If I can’t use these objects as mirrors in the next hour I’m going to have Daddy rip you limb from limb and then cut your head off. Understand? Good slave!”  
  
  
“Polly’s trying to do a line of coke on my hair which she needs to STOP DOING.” Vera said, the last two words clearly directed at Polly as the young ghost looked up from trying to snort white power off of one of the snakes that made up Vera’s head of hair.  
  
  
“You need to chill out.” Polly whined, “You should try some of my toilet wine! That’d help.”  
  
  
“It would help me get dysentery and die you idiot.”  
  
  
“I drink it all the time, and I’m not dead yet!” Polly argued.  
  
  
“Yes… Yes, you are.” Vera replied, massaging her forehead with her fingers out of frustration.  
  
  
“Oh, oh yeah.” Polly said before giving a smirk, “Well it definitely works for me.”  
  
  
“I’m sure it does.” Vera replied before turning her attention to Damien, “What’s up?”  
  
  
“Nothing much.” Damien replied, acting cool as he sat himself down next to Vera and Polly (who’d already gone back to trying to snort her cocaine on Vera’s hair), “But I do agree with you.”  
  
  
“What?”  
  
  
“I’ll try and get talking to Brian again, okay? I will, I’ll deal with how annoying he is and all that crap. But if I can’t, then we can move on to plan B, where we do more than just bury him alive.”  
  
  
“Really?”  
  
  
“Fuck yeah”  
  
  
“Well,” Vera replied, trying not to show her surprise that Damien was agreeing with her, “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”  
  
  
For the rest of third period the group simply chatted and joked as they usually did (once Liam returned with Scott in hand). Damien felt a little relieved, that things seemed to have gone back to how they were before, convincing himself this all made losing Brian worth it. When the bell rung signalling the beginning of Lunch, Damien wanted to maintain his old Damien bravado in front of his friends, so within moments of entering the cafeteria, the young Demon found his next living punching bag; smirking to his friends as he made his way over to them.  
  
  
“Alright guys, keep clear of the carnage.” he said before letting out a laugh. He then pushed his way through the hectic crowd of other students before getting close enough to his victim to attack. Damien could so far only see the monster in question from behind, and they seemed to be on the aquatic side: their overall shape wasn’t too dissimilar to Liam’s, and their outfit consisted of a white tank top and denim jeans; their gills protruding from either side of their neck as they stood there chatting to their friends and completely oblivious. If it weren’t for the fact they seemed to have at least a little bit of muscle on them, Damien would never have considered them a worthy punching bag. After getting close enough, Damien landed a strong left hook on the side of the monster’s head, sending them flying across the cafeteria; and within seconds the pair of them were grappling and wrestling each other on the floor of the cafeteria. Damien was definitely winning.  
  
  
It felt good, him getting his own way, getting the outcome he wanted. However, the commotion was short lived as he eventually felt himself be grabbed from around the waist, hoisted into the air and thrown over someone’s shoulder. Who fuck- what the-  
  
  
“GET THE FUCK OFF ME.” Damien immediately yelled at the top of his lungs, “WHO EVER THIS IS YOU’RE FUCKING DEAD. YOU GET ME?”  
  
  
But he received no response from whoever had picked him up, and Damien (as much as he tried to break free) could only squirm as he watched himself get carried out of the cafeteria. This wasn’t cool. His reputation had definitely died a little by the fact he was being carried like a child, and whoever was doing it was doing it so easily too… Liam would most definitely find this uncool. For a long, long while, not a single word was spoken between him and the mystery monster as the cafeteria hubbub subsided to silence. What felt like hours had only really been a few minutes, and eventually Damien realised they’d arrived at the Party Tree, and when they reached their destination Damien felt the tight grip that had been around his waist fall away, and he was able to jumped down and look at whoever it was that had dragged him away.  
  
  
Of course it was Brian.  
  
  
Damien wasn’t completely stupid. In all honesty it kind of made sense why he hadn’t been able to tell it was Brian; for starters Brian hadn’t bee wearing his jacket, and Damien was so used to Brian wearing the jacket that he almost forgot that the tall zombie had the opportunity to take it off. Secondly Brian hadn’t said a word the whole time he’d been carrying Damien across his shoulder, and thirdly the pair of them hadn’t been speaking to one another so, the last person Damien expected it to be was Brian.  
  
  
“Brian? You- You carried me? Out here? What the fuck-”  
  
  
Before Damien could utter another syllable, he watched Brian look at him and walk off towards the tree, where he promptly sat himself down, resting his back against the bark of the tree. Damien was speechless, and all that he could really bring himself to do was sit himself down next to the tall zombie. This was his chance to fix things, he wasn’t gonna just let it go.  
  
  
For a while the pair sat there, no looking at each other, neither of them looking at anything in particular to be honest, and neither of them talking. Damien pretty much sat there picking at the grass; ripping it up from its roots and leaving it on the ground, meanwhile Brian was looking into the sky. At first Damien tolerated the silence, but eventually he felt the butterflies in his stomach take over, and he couldn’t take it anymore:  
  
  
“Brian. Are you gonna speak to me or are you gonna keep looking into the sky like a weirdo?”  
  
  
“I dunno.” Brian eventually replied, “I mean, you did say I was a stalker and called me Rotface, how do I know you’re not gonna punch me in the face as soon as I open my mouth?”  
  
  
“Why would I- Yeah, alright, I see your point.” Damien then sighed as he tried to find the right words, “But you’re wrong.”  
  
  
“How am I wrong?”  
  
  
“Because I’d never punch you, or even slap you, not even hit you over the head lightly. I don’t want to.”  
  
  
“Why? Am I not a good enough punching bag?”  
  
  
“Because I like you, idiot!” Damien blurted out before realising what he'd said, “I mean, like, as someone to hang out with.”   
  
  
 _Real fuckin' smooth jackass_ Damien thought to himself as he finished speaking.  
  
  
“Then why did you say all those things?” Brian asked as he allowed his eyebrows to furrow in pure confusion.  
  
  
He could say it. He could say it all now. Explain everything: the prank, the friendship, the crush… He could say it all. He could tell Brian the prank wasn’t anything he wanted, Brian might understand. Hell, maybe he might even accept his feelings a little bit? Who knew? But in Damien’s mind, in that moment, the idea of being so honest terrified him more than maintaining parts of the lie. At least for the time being.  
  
  
“Because… I thought you deserved better than me.” Damien admitted – which was at least truthful, he just hadn’t been completely honest.  
  
  
“What?”  
  
  
“Look I don’t exactly have a reputation for being a nice guy that doesn’t set things on fire. I didn’t want people think the same thing about you?”  
  
  
“And why’s that?”  
  
  
“You’re different. To me, anyway. My polar opposite pretty much. People kinda know me as the scary fire dude, I didn’t want them looking at you the same way just because you hang out with me.”  
  
  
“Well…” Brian began, “Isn’t that my decision to make? I mean, I won’t lie, you ditching me and calling me a stalker hurt quite a bit.”  
  
  
Guilt. It was back.  
  
  
“I’m really sorry about that.” Damien replied, and he genuinely meant that.  
  
  
“But I don’t think you’re a bad guy. Sure, you tend to set things on fire and start fights for no good reason. And as stupid as it sounds, I think I really got to know you a bit better lately, and you’re definitely not as scary as you used to seem.”  
  
  
“Maybe I should fix that?” Damien smirked, looking down at the pile of grass he’d uprooted from the ground, “I’ve got a reputation after all.”  
  
  
“I like it. The none scary side, I think it suits you.”  
  
  
Of course he had to go and say something cute like that. Of course, he did. Did he not realise how flirty that was? Or maybe, was Damien taking it as flirty? The young demon couldn’t help but think, _Fuck he’s so confusing. I can’t read him._  
  
  
The pair, briefly, returned to silence for a couple of minutes, but it was a thousand times more comfortable this time around. Like the pair of them could actually breathe easily, the tension had completely died. The guilt was pretty much gone, at the very least. Which was better than it still being there. After a while, Damien finally forced himself to ask something he’d been desperate to know:  
  
  
“Brian?”  
  
  
“Damien.” Brian replied as he turned his head to look back at the demon.  
  
  
“Would you be okay if we still hung out?”  
  
  
“Well that’s one way to put it.” Brian replied, “But you could also say?”  
  
  
Damien knew what Brian was trying to get from him. And he was going to get it, even if it made blood rush to Damien’s cheeks, “Would you please still be friends with me? And you’re not a Rotface or a Fuckdoor.”  
  
  
“Better.” Brian replied with a grin.  
  
  
“So? What do you say? Or did I just waste my time?”  
  
  
“No, no, you didn’t. Alright, I’m giving you a second chance here.”  
  
  
“So we can still-”  
  
  
“We can still be friends, yeah, I’d really like that.”  Brian said, replying to Damien before he’d even finished his sentence.  
  
  
It took a lot of will power, but Damien managed to suppress how happy he was, and casually replied with a: “Yeah, that sounds cool.”  
  
  
“Great. So are you still up for tomorrow?” Brian asked as he picked himself up off the ground before offering Damien a helping hand in standing up too.  
  
  
“Tomorrow?” Damien asked as he took hold of the hand Brian had offered and pulled himself up to his feet, “What’s happening tomorrow?”  
  
  
“We texted each other, you said we needed to work on the project, so we agreed you’d come over to my place this Saturday to work on it – which is tomorrow.”  
  
  
“Oh shit, I forgot.” Damien replied, cursing himself for forgetting something like that, “You’re gonna have to text me your address.”  
  
  
“Will do.” Brian replied, a toothy grin spread across his face, “Now, should we head back to school? The Cafeteria will still be open.”  
  
  
“I haven’t eaten yet, and all the good food with be gone by now. Well, the edible stuff at least.” Damien muttered.  
  
  
“Well, I can play you back by getting us snacks for tomorrow.”  
  
  
“Hmm.”  
  
  
“And alcohol for after we’ve finished our work.”  
  
  
“Deal. As long as it’s not Polly’s toilet wine.”  
  
  
And with that the pair began walking back into the school. Obviously, Damien would have to head straight to the Principle’s office to sort out what happened in the cafeteria, but besides that, Damien couldn’t believe his own luck. Brian had forgiven him, not only that, but he was going over to his place tomorrow! The old Damien was definitely dead at this point. And as much as that meant he was back to square one in terms of at least trying to stop Brian from getting shoved in a 6ft hole, he couldn’t deny he was still happy. For the time being, he wanted to enjoy whatever time he had left with Brian. The new Damien was the Damien that had Brian, and no way in Hell did he want to give that up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really need to get a post schedule up
> 
> let me know if you liked the chapter by leaving a comment or a kudos!


	9. Sometimes You Need to Think Things Through.

**WEEK 2 – SATURDAY  
  
  
** It was now or never. It was do or don’t, do or die, or whatever you wanted to call it. It was important, to say the least. Damien couldn’t help but feel a tad uneasy at what was about to happen: what if Brian didn’t like him after it? What if he made a mistake later on? What if he ended up being really bad at it? Brian would definitely make fun of him for it – to be bad at something like that. No way in Hell he’d ever live that down… No. No. No point thinking like that, Damien thought to himself as he physically shook the thoughts out of his head and looked straight at what was in front of him. With slight hesitation (after checking it was in fact 2pm), Damien lifted a finger up, and pressed the doorbell. The noise rang out for a couple seconds, and for a while Damien didn’t hear anything come from the other side of the front door. He and Brian were supposed to do homework and studying that day, but was the tall zombie even home? Had he forgotten? Damien shook his head clear of the negative thoughts again; Brian wasn’t going to judge him for being bad at studying, and Brian was most likely home. Simple.  
  
  
Not long after telling himself this silently, Damien heard shuffling come from inside the apartment, and after a few more seconds, Brian was stood in front of him, leaning against the door frame.  
  
  
Just over an hour earlier, Damien was rushing around his room looking for a decent outfit as well as his hair gel. He’d never been so concerned over his own appearance, but with the prospect of being alone with Brian, he at least wanted to look a little more put together. After showering and cleaning his teeth, Damien had found a pair of black, ripped jeans to wear with his light grey cotton T-Shirt and black leather jacket, all of which was worn with a pair of dark blue converse shoes. He looked pretty good. And after styling his hair to messy perfection and grabbing his bag that had all the stuff he had for studying, he was ready to go.  
  
  
“Hey man.” Brian greeted him with as the pair stood in the hallway of Brian’s apartment complex, “Want to come inside?”  
  
  
“That’s why I’m here, idiot.” Damien replied as he followed Brian into the apartment.  
  
  
“Sorry about how small it is by the way, with your Dads ruling their own circle of hell, your bedroom is probably bigger than this whole apartment.”  
  
  
_You’re not wrong there,_ Damien admitted to himself, “Nah, it’s no problem, I don’t care. It’s cool you’ve got your own place.”  
  
  
“Yeah, it’s cosy I guess.” Brian agreed as the pair of them entered the living room. The room itself was also Brian’s dining room, and the Kitchenette was adjacent to it. In the living room he had a battered looking four-seater sofa and a square coffee table that sat on top of a square cream rug. All of which sat in front of the small flat screen that had been placed on top of a cabinet. What was odd, really, was the sheer number of candles that had been placed in that one room alone (Damien could only assume there were more dotted around the apartment). Damien had to admit, compared to Brian, he himself was living quite luxuriously.  
  
  
“So where should I sit?”  
  
  
“Well it’s better to work on a flat surface, so I think it’s best to sit on the floor at the coffee table – that’s where I usually work.”  
  
  
“No problem.” Damien replied as he immediately found himself a place at the coffee table and sat himself down. The rug made sitting there a bit more comfortable, at least. Damien saw that Brian had already laid out all his materials for studying on the coffee table, and the tall giant promptly joined him in sitting on the floor and sat directly across from him. Damien could definitely feel his heart pounding a little, even if he’d never admit it. After moving one of the many candles in the room to one side, Damien took out some of the things he’d brought to study with: a pad of paper and a pen, a pencil, and a small selection of some of his best knives (so they could use them as inspiration).  
  
  
“You um… Have quite the hobby there.” Brian said with a smirk.  
  
  
“It’s a bad ass hobby though.” Damien replied as he laid out every knife neatly across the table, “And they’ll be useful for our project.”  
  
  
“Thanks for bringing them.” Brian replied before moving on the topic of conversation, “So Mr. Goodbeast said it had to be a weapon that comes from the heart. So, it can’t really just be a generic knife you see every day. It’s gotta be something you’d put effort into.”  
  
  
“Right.” Damien replied, nodding his head as if he knew what was going on.  
  
  
“You’re completely lost, aren’t you?” Brian asked, looking right through the young demon’s act.  
  
  
“I don’t even know how to start!” Damien admitted, frustrated, “A weapon from the heart? What does that even mean? How can it be from the heart unless that’s where you stabbed them?”  
  
  
Brian pondered for a moment before replying, “Uhh, Okay… Think of the person you like.”  
  
  
“What?”  
  
  
“You heard me. Just do it, trust me, it may help. Look, I won’t ask who it is if that helps.”  
  
  
“What if I don’t like anyone?” Damien asked, trying to hide the fact he did have a crush, and that said crush was sat directly in front of him asking him to think of his crush. Crush-ception.  
  
  
“Then think of the most attractive person you’ve ever seen. Okay?”  
  
  
“Fine.” Damien replied as Brian came to mind, “Now what?”  
  
  
“Think of the most badass knife ever, it doesn’t even have to exist yet.”  
  
  
“It’d have to be like, a dagger,” Damien began without hesitation, as if he’d thought about this many times before, “but the blade is all wavy like it’s a flame or something. The handle would have to be pretty long for it to fit their hand right.”  
  
  
“The attractive person in your head as big hands?” Brian asked, raising one eyebrow.  
  
  
“Don’t change the subject!” Damien replied before immediately continuing with his idea of the ultimate knife, “The handle would have a glossed, natural wood finish, which would make it look like a pretty generic knife. But then it surprises you by being able to light itself on fire when you press a button that’s on the handle of the blade – your enemy wouldn’t expect that.”  
  
  
“Alright. Then that’s the blade you’d give to the person you like.”  
  
  
“Seriously?”  
  
  
“Well if it were me, I’d want to give that person something I thought was really great, and if you put effort into making it, then they appreciate the fact you made it even more.”  
  
  
“Alright I think I get this shit now, let’s do this thing!” Damien yelled, now raring to go now he understood the whole project a little better, “Let’s make a knife so bad ass people find us attractive.”

  
Since they’d hadn’t spoken pretty much the entire school week, they had quite a lot of catching up to do for their project, so over the course of the next few hours, the pair of them worked tirelessly though designing, planning, and creating steps they’d need to take in order to bring their final knife design to life. It was actually pretty tiring, and as the pair of them argued over what materials would be best or who should do what when constructing the blade, Brian would occasionally head into his tiny kitchen and grab a bag of snacks for the pair of them to eat their way through. As they worked they chatted and made small talk between talking about the project, and bit by bit Damien felt himself get a tiny bit closer to Brian. All his efforts were made worth it by the few occasions when Damien got to look at Brian working away on designs without him noticing. They shared the odd joke with one another which was met with laughter from the pair of them, all the while a playlist of music played in the background. By the time they’d caught up with everything from class and finished all the extra studying they’d done, they were both exhausted – Damien in particular.  
  
  
“Fuck man, for a while I didn’t think we’d ever finish.” Damien sighed as he rested his head on the table, “What time is it?”  
  
  
“Just gone five. Do you need to be anywhere?”  
  
  
“Nah, I’m just shocked you got me to work for that long. That might be the most school work I’ve done in a year or two.”  
  
  
“We’ve done pretty well. Really all that’s left for us now it to make the actual knife.”  
  
  
“If we don’t get like, an A++ for this I’m gonna set something on fire – with the knife.” Brian chuckled a little at this, making Damien change the topic of conversation, “So I’m I cool to stay a bit longer? Or do you want me out?”  
  
  
“What? No, I don’t mind, stay as long as you want really.”  
  
  
“You also promised alcohol.”  
  
  
“Ah, so there’s your motivation for staying.” Brian said with a smirk as he picked himself up off the floor and headed over to his fridge to grab two beers, “You can sit on the couch, I’ll bring them over now.”  
  
  
_It's definitely one of my motivations,_ Damien admitted to himself as he pushed himself up onto the four-seater sofa. Despite how old it looked it was surprisingly comfortable. As Brian grabbed beers form the fridge, Damien decided to start another conversation, “So, what’s with all the candles?”  
  
  
Brian seemed to freeze a little as he closed the fridge after grabbing two bottles. Eventually he turned around and headed back into the living room where he handed Damien one of the two bottle he had hold of, "It's uh, a long story."  
  
“Well I’m not going anywhere.” Damien replied as he twisted the cap off and took a swig from the bottle.  
  
  
Brian looked at Damien for a long time, not saying a word, “If I tell you, do you promise not to laugh?”  
  
  
“Alright, I promise.” Damien said as he placed his hand on his heart, after which he took another sip from his beer, “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”  
  
  
“I’ve never told anyone else besides Vicky, Oz and Amira.” Brian said as he twisted off the cap to his own beer and took a large swig of it, eventually sitting himself on the sofa next to Damien.  
  
  
“Look you know the shit I get up to, trust me, I’m not gonna judge. Unless it’s really fucking weird.”  
  
  
“I dunno if you’d call it weird per say…” Brian said before taking another hefty sip of his drink. For a while neither of them said anything, and sensing Damien probably wasn’t going to let it go, the tall zombie let out a sigh and spoke, “Alright. I don’t remember anything from before I died.”  
  
  
“Nothing at all?”  
  
  
“Nope, I mean, I eventually remembered my name – but that took a long time to do.”  
  
  
“Right, okay, so what’s that got to do with candles?”  
  
  
“Obviously, when I died, I got put in a coffin and buried 6ft underground. So, when I woke up, with no recollection of anything, covered in complete darkness. I was terrified.”  
  
  
Damien began to feel a sickly feeling take over his stomach, and it definitely wasn’t from the alcohol.  
  
  
“And I was stuck in there for what seemed like forever, which I wasn’t far off. I’d been buried with my phone, which told me I’d been stuck in there for at least five days before I  
got myself out. And getting out took a while.”  
  
  
_Oh, you can’t be fucking serious._ Damien thought to himself as he imagined where the rest of the story was going.  
  
  
“Ever since then, I’ve been terrified of the dark. I can’t really afford to keep the electricity on all the time, so I light candles at night. To be honest, I’m still left awake at night, even if they’re lit – they don’t get rid of all the dark.”  
  
  
“Is that why you fall asleep in class all the time?”  
  
  
“Pretty much. Though Vicky and everyone else don’t know that bit – they just think I’m scared of the dark and that’s it.”  
  
  
_I’ve got to keep him away from that prank…I can’t let it happen,_ Damien thought to himself as he felt the unwanted sensation of panic rise in his gut, what he actually said was: “Brian…”  
  
  
“I know it’s stupid, being scared of the dark, I must sound like a kid or something.”  
  
  
“No that’s not what I’m saying.” Damien replied, “I mean, I think, you didn’t deserve that shit to happen to you.”  
  
  
For a while neither of them spoke, Brian’s honesty leaving them both speechless. Brian hadn’t expected himself to be so honest with Damien, and Damien was now trying to figure out a plan to make sure Brian never even had to look at the coffin Vera planned on shoving him into. Eventually Damien looked up from being lost int his own thoughts as saw Brian sat next to him, looking embarrassed- wait. More than that. Was he… ashamed? It definitely looked it at least: he was busy looking at his beer bottle, as if he couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact.  
  
  
“Hey.” Damien said, breaking the silences, “I just said you didn’t deserve it. You can look me in the eye you know.”  
  
  
“I know, it’s just, it’s not exactly manly – being terrified of the dark.”  
  
  
“Who gives a shit what other people think? I think you’re still cool.” Damien said, Brian seemed to let out a little scoff as if to say _Yeah, sure…_ but Damien wasn’t going down that easy, “Look at me, Brian. What would I get from lying to you about that shit? I think you’re still cool.”  
  
  
After looking at the young demon for a while, Brian smiled a little, “Thanks.”  
  
  
The each went quiet for a few seconds, just a few seconds, but they never broke eye contact. And despite neither of them talking Damien felt like he was being deafened by the silence, the only other noise he could hear was his heart pounding against his ribcage – surely Brian could hear it? Terrified of how he felt being revealed, Damien changed topic all together, practically leaping out his seat after downing the rest of his bottle. After doing so he immediately headed over to the fridge where he found an uncountable amount of unopened beer bottles, waiting to be opened.  
  
  
“What are you doing?” Brian asked with a small grin as he watched Damien return to the living room, his arms wrapped around a large batch of bottles.  
  
  
“We,” he began as he dumped the bottles on the rest of the empty couch next to Brian, “are going to drink till we either pass or throw up, or both.”  
  
  
“That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”  
  
  
“So you’re not gonna drink?”  
  
  
“I said it didn’t sound like a good idea, I never said I wasn’t gonna do it.” Brian eventually said before downing the rest of his first drink and promptly cracking open another one, “Let’s do this shit.”  
  
  
Over the course of the next few hours, Damien and Brian proceeded to drink their own combined weight in alcohol. With Damien drinking alcohol like water anyway and Brian being dead (so it’d take a lot to get him drunk), they were both equally matched to one another. The music Brian had playing in the background got louder as the pair of them made their way through countless bottles, leaving them empty across the living room of the apartment. It took a while but eventually the pair of them began to feel the effects of the alcohol they’d been drinking, and much to Damien’s own surprise, he found himself more drunk than Brian was! One of the many advantages of being undead, is the simple fact you can drink an ungodly amount and only really feel tipsy. Eventually the pair of them were actually drunk, lying there on the couch, not trusting themselves to walk without falling over, and they simply sat there as the music filled the quiet.  
  
  
“I’m definitely drunk.” Brian admitted, “I haven’t been like this in a while, Vicky, Oz and Amira are never able to match me.”  
  
  
“Well,” Damien began as he sat himself a little more, “I’m definitely feelin’ it too.”  
  
  
“You’re worse than I am.”  
  
  
“Am not!” Damien replied, slurring his speech a little as he turned to face Brian.  
  
  
He looked good. Well, he looked good anyway, but after all the drinks he’d had, Damien couldn’t help but look at Brian and remember just how good looking he really was. A drunken haze of light seemed to have fallen on Brian, making Damien notice all the small details he somehow hadn’t taken in before: the constant bedhead that still looked good, how strong his jawline was, how the blacks of his eyes made the brilliant yellow if his pupils stand out more. He definitely looked good. And all at once Damien felt a sudden surge of confidence run through him like electricity through a metal wire.  
  
  
After a moment or two of neither of them saying a word, Damien let out a gust of air and suddenly sat himself across Brian’s lap, not breaking eye contact at all as he did so. He half expected Brian to laugh or make some sort of joke (if he had he probably would’ve gotten off his lap too), that Brian would even just shove him off.  
  
  
But that’s not what happened.  
  
  
Instead Brian looked right back at him, looking serious, he definitely wasn’t going to burst out laughing any time soon, or shove Damien off for that matter. The young zombie kept his arms limp by his sides, but from eye contact alone Damien felt unable to move off his lap. Brian wanted him there, that had to be what he was implying, right?  
  
  
“Damien-”  
  
  
“Shut up!” Damien interrupted, “There’s something, Brian.” Damien said, trying to talk cohesively as he closed off the distance he and Brian were looking at each other from, he brought himself so close they were only a couple centimetres from being nose to nose! But Damien didn’t pull away, and neither did Brian.  
  
  
“Something that you what?” Brian asked, as he tried to ignore any butterflies that were flapping around in his stomach.  
  
  
“There’s something I really, need to tell you.” Damien finally said as he brought himself closer still to Brian.  
  
  
“Go for it.”  
  
  
Damien didn’t reply, seemingly he’d chosen to reply without words, and Brian hadn’t pulled away or anything yet, so he was definitely going to go through with it. The closer and closer he got, millimetre by millimetre, he began to feel himself get dizzy. It had to be the drink. His vision began to double as he realised what was about to happen, his mind went blank, and all of a sudden…  
  
  
He passed out.  
  
  
Brian could only sit there, frozen, as he felt Damien’s head fall against his shoulder and the rest of his body go limp as he fell asleep on top of him. He was out like a light. Struck dumb by what had almost taken place, if it weren’t for the fact he was already dead, Brian knew he would have been blushing right then and there.  
  
  
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Brian muttered as he felt Damien’s weight get heavier and heavier on top of him. Rather than being annoyed or bothered that Damien had passed out, he was more surprised that the event had even happened in the first place; it’s not every day your crush sits on your lap and looks like they’re about to go in and kiss you. After a while of just sitting there in shock, Brian realised it was probably best to but Damien to bed. So, despite how drunk he was too, he managed to pick Damien up (without disturbing him from his sleep) and carry him to his bedroom where he promptly laid Damien down on the mattress.  
  
  
“It’s… too hot.” Damien muttered – sleep talking.  
  
  
“Oh God…” Brian replied, talking to himself as he wrestled with the idea of having to undress Damien in order to keep him cool (since he couldn’t physically feel the cold or heat, and he lived alone, Brian had never bought things like fans or heaters).  
  
  
“Too hot.” Damien muttered again, slightly louder as he tossed himself onto the side of the bed in his sleep.  
  
  
“Right. Just, stay still and I’ll help you out.” Brian replied as he began taking off Damien’s shoes, "Seriously, you're a Prince of Hell and it's too hot?". After he’d finally managed to remove the shoes, he sat Damien up in order to remove his leather jacket and shirt. Not wanting to go much further, Brian eventually spoke after the awkward interaction, “Is that good enough?”  
  
  
Half-conscious Damien replied by throwing himself back down onto the bed and promptly falling back asleep.  
  
  
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Brian said to himself as he stood back for a few moments, trying to compute what had taken place in the last ten minutes. After he made sure Damien wasn’t going to fall off the bed in the middle of the night, Brian headed back into the living room. He walked over to the kitchen and made himself some toast, and after he’d eaten as much as he could, made himself comfortable on the sofa and eventually fell asleep, a faint smile on his face as he did so.  
  
  
Damien had definitely tried to kiss him, right?


	10. Maybe He Could Steal a Time Machine?

**WEEK 2 – SUNDAY**  
  
  
When Damien LaVey woke up the next morning, he had to admit that the throbbing in his head was pretty bad, but he’d had worse. That was the first thing that came to mind, and as he slowly woke himself up, each of his senses seemed to turn on one at a time: he could hear the faint sound of music being played in the background, he could feel his bedsheets that were pulled across his bed, he could hear the shuffling of his Dad’s feet as he made breakfast in the other room, and he-  
  
  
Wait.  
  
  
The kitchen was downstairs, right?  
  
  
Damien looked up from the pillow he’d buried his face in and realised he wasn’t in his own bedroom. The unfamiliar setting was new to him completely, how the fuck had he ended up in a place like this? As he racked his brain for an answer he eventually realised where he was - he was in Brian’s bedroom. All of a sudden a flurry of memories from the previous day rushed back into Damien’s head, and as quickly as they’d arrived Damien tried to calm himself back down.  
  
  
“No, no, that can’t be right. I came over to study. Yeah. And then we drank. And then I… don’t remember...” Damien said to himself; he couldn’t recall anything after sitting himself on Brian’s lap, “Nothing happened. It can’t have.” He said over and over again as he sat up properly in the bed, it was only then that he realised that he was half naked. He could see his shirt, shoes and jacket laid out across the floor, and trying not to let his imagination get the best of him, he convinced himself nothing had happened. Besides, he didn’t _feel_ as though he’d gotten up to anything the previous night…  
  
  
After dressing himself in what he’d worn the previous day, Damien convinced himself to walk out of the bedroom. Hopefully Brian was only going to confirm that neither of them had gotten up to anything the night before. Because, surely, they hadn’t? As Damien entered the living room, he saw Brian working away in his tiny little kitchen, presumably making breakfast or lunch; for a few seconds the young demon felt calm since the angle he stood at looking into the kitchen ensured one of the counters covered Brian’s lower half – all he could see was Brian wearing his t-shirt and presumably fully dressed.  
  
  
“Oh, you’re awake,” Brian said as he realised he wasn’t the only one in the room anymore, “I’m making breakfast if you want some?”  
  
  
“What’s in it?”  
  
  
“Bacon, egg, whatever you want I guess.”  
  
  
“Sure, sounds good.”  
  
  
Damien threw himself down onto the couch, grabbed the remote for the TV off the coffee table and switched over to some random show, “I’m feeling it this morning.”  
  
  
“Really?”  
  
  
“You’re not?” Damien asked, looking over from the couch, “We drank a lot last night.”  
  
  
“I know, I know. It’s just I don’t get hangovers.”  
  
  
“You’ve gotta be shitting me, for real?”  
  
  
“Yeah, one of the perks of being undead.”  
  
  
“You got that right.” Damien replied as his attention returned back to whatever was happening on screen.   
  
  
For a while neither of them spoke, with Brian busying himself with cooking in the kitchen and Damien occupying himself with the random show he was watching on screen. Which is why, when Brian came out from the kitchen with two plates of food in hand, Damien nearly leapt out of his seat and onto the floor. It was the last thing he’d expected to see, possibly ever, which is why when he saw it… Well, he wasn’t sure if he was happy looking at it or not. With the panic of having woken up half naked along with a non-existent recollection of the night before, yes, what Damien saw the moment Brian left the small kitchen shocked him (to say the least).  
  
  
Brian was half naked.   
  
  
With not much else on besides the oversized t-shirt he’d worn the previous day and a pair of underwear, Brian was indeed half naked. Jaw dropped and speechless, Damien could only stare at the tall zombie as he handed him a plate of food. Unsure if he should be into it, or even more terrified of what may have happened. Brian then sat himself down with his own breakfast, right next to where Damien was sat on the sofa.  
  
  
“Last night was fun.” Brian said with a smile before he began digging into the food that sat on his plate.   
  
  
_Please don’t tell me… Did we- did we… Have sex?_ Damien asked himself as he desperately tried to recall the previous night. Surely, he’d remember something like that? Well, he definitely wanted to remember something like that… Especially if it was with Brian.   
  
  
“I don’t remember a lot.” Damien replied, as he scooted a centimetre or two away from where Brian had sat next to him.   
  
  
“You definitely can’t drink as much as me then.” Brian said, looking at Damien, a large toothy grin on his face, “What don’t you remember?”  
  
  
“I remember us drinking on the sofa, the whole candle thing, and then more drinking.”  
  
  
“That all?”  
  
  
“Yeah,” Damien replied, ignoring the fact he very well knew he’d sat himself on Brian’s lap, “why? Did something happen?”  
  
  
Brian looked a Damien for a few seconds, the smile on his face faltering for a moment before returning, “No, nothing important.”  
  
  
“Right.” Damien simply replied, but internally his response was more along the lines of _Bullshit._  
  
  
For the next few minutes, they both brought their attention to what was happening on screen; an awkward silence consumed the air as they each tried to find something else to talk about. But nothing came from it. Damien felt sick to his stomach; but he couldn’t tell if that was because of the hangover, or the nerve-wracking idea that he’d slept with Brian but didn’t remember it. If he had… Well, he had to be the biggest idiot in existence. But still, Brian said it wasn’t important, surely something like that is worth bringing up? But then again, Brian was a good-looking guy, maybe stuff like that was kinda normal for him so wasn’t worth bringing up?  
  
  
What the fuck was going on?  
  
  
He couldn’t take it anymore. The quiet. The lack of knowing. But he couldn’t just look at Brian and say, “Hey did we have sex last night?”. You don’t just ask shit like that. So, in that moment, Damien decided if he wasn’t going to ask, he was going to go home.  
  
  
“Well then…” Damien began as he picked himself up off the couch, leaving the food Brian had made him uneaten, “I think I’m gonna head home.”  
  
  
“Are you okay to do that? Being hungover and all.” Brian asked as he looked over at Damien.

  
“Yeah, I got a portal thing that leads straight to Hell. I’ll open it up outside and I’ll be home in like, twenty seconds? I’ll be fine.”  
  
  
“Oh, alright.”  
  
  
“Can you keep hold of the all the stuff we designed and talked about for the knife?” Damien asked as he walked over to the front door.  
  
  
“Yeah sure.” Brian asked, a little baffled at Damien’s sudden decision to go home. As Damien opened the front door, Brian couldn’t help but say one more thing before he left, “Hey Damien?”  
  
  
“Yeah man?”  
  
  
“Thanks. For actually listening to me about the candles, the work you put in for the project, just… Everything.”  
  
  
“It’s um, no problem.” Damien replied, giving a nod of the head before walking out the apartment and closing the front door behind him. As he made his way out of the apartment complex a million and one questions whirring around in his mind as he desperately tried to form lost memories of what had taken place last night. But to no avail. He cursed himself for drinking as much as he did; maybe if he hadn’t had that last bottle, he’d easily know what happened after he sat on Brian’s lap.   
  
  
As Damien made his way home, Brian remained sat on his sofa. For ages he just sat there, not doing anything except staring straight at the front door. Over the course of twelve hours, his crush had sat on his lap and looked at though was about to kiss him; seemingly it was a very big something that’d come from absolutely nothing… But it was a good something, wasn’t it? After reliving what’d happened the previous night, Brian laid himself across the length of the sofa, grabbed a pillow from behind his head, and promptly shoved it into his face. At first, he thought he might scream into it, but the only noise that came out was a low rumbling groan of confusion. His grip on the pillow eventually loosened and Brian allowed it to fall to the floor next to him as he stared up at the ceiling. He was too far gone to fall out of love with Damien anytime soon, and with that in mind, the young zombie knew he’d have to do something about it soon.  
  
  
Very soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooo only 5 chapters left! What do you guys think is gonna happen?
> 
> please leave a kudos or comment if you enjoyed!


	11. A Matter of Time.

**WEEK 3 –MONDAY** _  
  
  
_ Still rattled (but not hating) the prospect of having seemingly slept with Brian, Damien was on his way to school, late obviously, but desperately trying to figure out how to get out of it. If he had… with Brian, he wasn’t sure he could face him yet. But it’d be fine, he’d just have to text him that night and get it over with: it he was right then he guessed it wasn’t such a bad thing, but if he was wrong, well, it might be a bit awkward between them as a result. It was a risk he was going to have to take, he didn’t take pleasure in not talking to Brian, and he couldn’t face another near sleepless night of trying to remember. After walking into school and a while of trapesing through its endless hallways, the bell rung - signalling the start of second lesson. As he shoved his way through the endless throng of students trying to make it to their next lesson, he suddenly felt someone push into him, causing them both to fall to the floor – whoever it was, they were lying on top of him, and they were fucking heavy!  
  
  
“Get the fuck off of me!” Damien yelled as soon as he’d realised what’d happened, “Get the _fuck_ off!”  
  
  
“Sorry, I got pushed trying to get to my next class- Damien?” the student spoke as they lifted themselves off of Damien and slowly standing up.  
  
  
“Brian?” Damien asked as he copied the massive zombie in getting up from the floor. Seriously, it had to be Brian, who else would it be? Damien couldn’t help but think there was a chance of him being cursed with bad luck, since stuff like this kept happening. But all at once Damien’s attention was called to something else, “Wait? Who the fuck pushed you?”  
  
  
“Uh… Nobody.”  
  
  
“Bullshit.” Damien said, cracking his knuckles, “Just tell me and I’ll make ‘em say sorry.”  
  
  
“It was just an accident, it’s fine, really – leave it.”  
  
  
Damien looked up at Brian, a little unsure if he could really manage just leaving it alone, but one look at Brian and he knew he had to do as he’d been asked – even if he didn’t want to.  
  
  
“Fine, but if you get pushed again by the same person, don’t come running to me.”  
  
  
“I can handle myself.” Brian replied, “Thanks though.”  
  
  
“Whatever.” Damien replied as the pair instinctively began walking together. As he realised they’d be heading to class, Damien let out a groan of annoyance, lolling his head back as he did so.  
  
  
“Don’t want to go to class?”  
  
  
“I really can’t be bothered doing this school shit.” Damien replied, “I’d rather do anything else.”  
  
  
“How about suit shopping?”  
  
  
“What?”  
  
  
“You know, for prom?” Brian said, the pair of them stopping in the middle of the hallway after he did so.  
  
  
“You don’t have your suit yet?”  
  
  
“No, do you?”  
  
  
“No.”   
  
  
“Well let’s go, what do you think?”  
  
  
“How long will it take?”  
  
  
“I dunno, a couple hours at least.”  
  
  
“I’m in.” Damien replied instantly – he wasn’t going to throw away an opportunity like that, plus it meant getting out of school.  
  
  
The pair of them promptly turned around and headed in the opposite direction, out of school and on their way to town. All the while on their journey the pair of them chatted, Brian seemed so calm and casual but for Damien he couldn’t help but think _‘Last night was fun.’_  Over and over and over again in his head. It was baffling how at ease the tall zombie seemed… Maybe Damien was over thinking this? Before he could even finish his train of thought, Brian interrupted it:  
  
  
“We’re here.”  
  
  
Damien looked up and saw they were, indeed, at the Prom Store; where every dress and suit and tie could be found for every monster in the city. After taking in the brightly coloured orange walls of the shop, the pair walked in, looking highly out of place in such a bright and energetic shop. So much so, that the shop owner almost didn’t go over to them to see if they wanted any help, but eventually she did, and with a bubbly, cheery tone, greeted the pair of them.  
  
  
“My, it’s a little early to be out of school isn’t it?”  
  
  
“There uh… Was another sea beast attack.” Brian replied, obviously lying.  
  
  
“Oh my! How dreadful!”  
  
  
“It’ll be fine. The janitor will sort it out.”  
  
  
“I suppose so. My! I lost track of myself. I believe you two young men are in need of suits?”  
  
  
“Yeah.” Damien replied, “You got any good ones?”  
  
  
“Of course! You’ve come to the right place, if you’d follow me please.” The elderly shop keeper said in a sing song voice as she led the two young monsters further into the store, where there was a whole section dedicated to suits. The walls were jam packed full of them, for corner to corner, you could get lost in the sea of them if you weren’t careful enough. But they were all also kept in pristine condition, not a single hair or piece of dust had collected (seemingly) on any of them; this shop keeper was either passionate or borderline obsessive… Nonetheless, Damien couldn’t help but feel a little excited. It was his last prom, and it was the only prom the school had ever really let him go to – what with his reputation of violence and arson, they didn’t exactly trust him to keep the peace for more than ten minutes. But this year was different, this year he was gonna dress to the tens and show everyone what they’d been missing out on. But he couldn’t look too excited. No. He didn’t want to look uncool in front of Brian (for obvious reasons), but alas, the young demon couldn’t help himself from stroking the material of every suit he laid eyes on, taking in all their details and cuts and styles. With his secret passion for clothes and styling, it was near enough to letting a kid run lose in a sweet shop.   
  
  
As Brian watched Damien take it all in, he couldn’t help but smile to himself. The young demon certainly looked like he was having a good enough time without even having tried a suit on yet! It was cute. Of course, he didn’t know about Damien’s love for fashion and such, but the wide eyed wonder he saw in the young demon’s eyes was still undeniably wholesome. Not that he’d ever tell that to Damien, not if he wanted a swift punch to the nose. Eventually the shopkeeper returned both of their attentions to the matter at hand; each of them finding a decent suit for prom.   
  
  
“So um….” She began till she realised she hadn’t caught either of their names.  
  
  
“I’m Brian, the half-horned asshole stood next to me is called Damien.”  
  
  
“You’re pushin’ it man.” Damien replied, clearly unimpressed, but he didn’t want to start a fight in such a nice shop.  
  
  
“My bad. Damien. His name’s Damien.” Brian corrected.   
  
  
“Wonderful. Brian, is there anything you had in mind?”  
  
  
“Uh… No. Not really. Just something that fitted me well and looked good.”  
  
  
“Damien?”  
  
  
“I was thinking black, white shirt underneath, neat trim on the neck, nothing too fancy I guess-” Damien cut himself mid-sentence, having only just realised what he’d said. What would Brian think? Would he think it was odd? That he liked clothes that much? That he knew exactly what he wanted? What if Brian thought he’d been constantly thinking about it to the point of it being weird?

  
“Looks like you’re all set. You know way more on what you want than I do.” Brian said with a smile.  
  
  
Oh. Apparently not.  
  
  
Not long after that the pair of them made a start, working alongside the shop keeper in order to find the perfect suits. Since they’d left school early, they were the only customers in the shop at the time, which was even better in terms of getting the help they needed. With Brian only really wearing the same outfit every day, he was noticeably blind in terms of fashion, so really the more help the better. Inside the shop there was a sort of changing area, one of those booth things where you and getting arrested for public nudity where barricaded from one another by a thin curtain. The booth itself was large, with a comfortable looking chair in it, a rack big enough to hold at least eight suits and a full-length mirror.   
  
  
“Good thing there’s only two of you shopping together, you can both use the changing booth, right?”  
  
  
“At the same time?” Damien asked, swallowing his sudden wave of nerves.  
  
  
“Of course, is there a problem?” the shopkeeper asked politely, “So sweet, you two shopping together. I’m surprised you don’t want to surprise one another though, on the night I mean.”  
  
  
“What do you mean-” Damien began, confused as to what she meant, but Brian was quick to cut him off.  
  
  
“One booth is fine, thanks.”  
  
  
“Right then, you two go a head and get in it, I’ll come back in a few minutes with some suits for the pair of you.” She said, and without another moment’s hesitation, she walked off to fulfil her task.  
  
  
Damien stood there, almost frozen, still baffled as to what she meant. _Sweet? Us? And what does she mean by surprising each other- Holy shit._ Damien said to himself as he stood there, _She thinks we’re a fucking couple!  
  
  
“_ Dude, come on.” Brian said, signalling with his head for Damien to stop standing there and follow, “She’ll be back with suits soon.”  
  
  
“Oh, right.” Damien replied, and without realising he’d even moved, soon found himself stood in the large changing room besides Brian.   
  


The air conditioning was working fine and being a Prince of Hell meant he could handle the heat, but in Damien’s mind, sweat was pouring off his forehead by the bucketful. The last time he’d felt this nervous was when his Dad nearly walked in on him binging Boo Paul’s Drag Race. It wasn’t normal to be freaking out over something like this, he’d done the exact same thing when getting changed for gym countless times, even with Brian stood next to him! But maybe the fact that it was just the pair of them alone, maybe that’s what made it different? Not long after the pair of them entered the booth, the shop keeper returned with three of four suits in each hand, she seemed rather pleased with herself as she hung up each suit on the rack that was resting against the wall of the booth.  
  
  
“Now I know boys like yourself tend to want to buy a suit and leave as soon as possible, but I couldn’t help but pick out so many!”  
  
  
“That’s fine. You went through all the trouble, so we’ll try them on.” Brian replied, giving a slightly toothy grin as he did so, “Isn’t that right Damien?”  
  
  
“Hm?” Damien sounded as he looked up from examining the array of suits that’d arrived, “Oh, yeah, yeah, we will.”  
  
  
The shop keeper seemed to be glowing with glee as she promptly left the two monsters to get changed and dressed. For a few seconds, after she’d gone, the pair returned to quiet as they silently waited for who would begin getting changed first. Neither of them wanted to make the first move, despite it being such an easy one. Eventually Brian began to get changed, allowing Damien to follow suit, neither of them knew what to say, and neither of them wanted to look at each other. However, being stood in front of a full-length mirror, Damien allowed himself to steal one or two glances of Brian as he got changed into his first suit. For a while the booth was filled with nothing but the sound of suits rustling as they each got changed. After a few minutes, the pair turned around to face each other, and each got full view of each other’s outfits.   
  
  
“You look nice.” Brian said as he took a step closer to Damien, his hands shoved into the trouser pockets of the suit he was wearing.   
  
  
“Yeah, thanks. You look alright too.” Damien replied.   
  
  
Brian was wearing a dark green suit, the jacket the same colour as the trousers, he also had on a long sleeve black shirt - all of which was paired with a green tie (that was lighter than the suit itself). He looked smart, with all the buttons of his shirt done up, and the tie was tight. He definitely looked good, Damien couldn’t deny that, it almost didn’t make sense.   
  
  
Damien didn’t look half bad either. His suit was a tad more traditional with it being all black with a white shirt, and although he hadn’t tied it Damien was wearing a bowtie with it all, and he’d left one or two buttons (maybe four) undone. Brian knew that if it wasn’t for the fact he was a corpse with no ability to blush, he’d definitely be blushing; Damien scrubbed up well when he actually put a little more effort into it.   
  
  
“You’re not gonna do the bowtie properly?” Brian asked, taking yet another step forward as he did so.   
  
  
“Probably not, not really my style.” Damien replied, trying not to gulp as Brian got closer and closer.  
  
  
“I think you’d look good.” Brian said as he took yet another step, meaning the pair of them were only centimetres from being nose to nose. Brian looked Damien up and down and eventually spoke, “May I?”  
  
  
“Uh, sure?” Damien replied, and he promptly felt Brian begin to button his shirt up. The furnace in his stomach had to be blazing by now, every time Brian’s fingers brushed past his skin, he felt like his whole body would go ablaze – this shit wasn’t good for his heart. After his shirt was buttoned all the way up, Brian tied the bowtie properly, this all only took a few seconds, but Damien felt like the hours were just ticking by; as though the world had slowed down completely. When Brian finished, he took a step back and took in his own handy work, again he looked the young demon up and down, all the while a faint smile spread across his face.  
  
  
“I can’t decide, you look good either way.”   
  
  
Damien had no idea what to say, so instead, he changed the topic, “Well, if you’re gonna go with your tie done up, your hair should at lest have some effort put into it.”, he stepped forward and reclosed the gap between them, and immediately got to work on fixing Brian’s massive bed head. The silence was a lot easier to tolerate this time, the air was more breathable as Damien stood there styling Brian’s dark hair (that was also in need of a trim).  
  
  
“You getting your hair cut for Prom?” Damien asked as he added the finishing touches to his work.  
  
  
“Not sure.”  
  
  
“Well… I’ll Make a deal with you. I’ll wear the bowtie properly, if you cut your hair a little bit.”  
  
  
Brian looked at Damien for a long while, his face softened into a smile as he replied, “Sounds like a plan.”  
  
  
They each eventually showed off their suits to the shop keeper, who couldn’t stop herself from blushing at the sight of the pair of them.   
  
  
“Oh yes, that’s very good. You both look amazing! A pair of dashing young monsters.”  
  
  
They stuck to their promise of trying on the other suits she’d brought them, but none of them lived up to the first suits they each put on. So after hanging back up the last suit they’d try on, they looked at one another and quietly agreed that there was no denying the first pair of suits were the best. A few minutes later the pair of them stood at the till waiting for the shopkeeper to ring up the prices of their suits. As all this happened Brian felt Damien speak quietly in his ear:  
  
  
“Don’t worry. I’m not gonna blow this place up or anything. I like it here.”  
  
  
Brian simply replied with a smile as they each took out their wallets and paid for their suits. They left with a happy farewell sounding from the shopkeeper, shutting the door behind them as they began talking again.  
  
  
“We were there for two hours.” Brian said, checking the time on his watch as he did so, “Wanna go back to school?”  
  
  
“No, not really.” Damien replied, hands shoved deep into his pockets, as he subtly closed the gap between him and Brian as they walked.  
  
  
“So….” Brian began, “Want to grab something to eat?”  
  
  
“Sure.”  
  
  
“I know a place that’s good. Plus, I want ice cream.”  
  
  
A little under half and hour later, the pair of them were sat down in the parlour (the very same place his friends had taken him when Damien had tried to ditch him). It was a bit bright for Damien’s taste, but if Brian liked it then he supposed he’d stay anyway. He’d been sat down a while when Brian joined him, seemingly he’d already ordered for the pair of them.  
  
  
“Sorry about the wait.” Brian said as he sat down in the chair opposite the young demon, “Normally I’d ask what you wanted, but I really want you to try what I got – my treat.”  
  
  
“Sure, whatever.” Damien said, although he was secretly happy Brian wanted to do something like that.   
  
  
Over the course of nearly three hours, the pair of them chatted about near everything and anything they could think of as they each ate the ice creams Brian had ordered. Damien’s recent antics and arsons, Brian’s homework and whether or not he’d let Damien copy it, the weapon tech project they were working on together and eventually… Prom itself.   
  
  
“So, uh, who are you taking to prom? It’s getting pretty close now.” Brian said as he scraped his spoon against his ice cream glass.  
  
  
“Nope, still getting offers though – it’s annoying. How about yourself? Surely someone’s asked you?”  
  
  
“Nah, not me. Amira and Vic have been pretty popular with it all.”  
  
  
“What about Oz?” Damien said, remembering Brian’s trio from weapon tech.  
  
  
“They can just about talk to me, Amira and Vicky. I think if a random student went up to them, they’d implode with pure panic.”  
  
  
Damien couldn’t help but find this a little funny, which was lucky since Brian was partially joking (although part of him told him that what he’d said wasn’t actually too far from the truth).   
  
  
“I think I might be able to find a date though.” Brian continued, suddenly looking slightly more serious than before.  
  
  
“Oh yeah?” Damien asked, feeling a little sick at the idea of who it could be, “Who?”  
  
  
“Well. The thing is Damien, I was thinking of asking-”  
  
  
“Hold that thought.” Damien butted in as he heard his phone ring from his back pocket, “I just need to take this.”  
  
  
“N-no problem.” Replied Brian, a little taken aback at his own sudden surge of confidence.   
  
  
For a few seconds they were quiet between the two between Damien began talking to whoever was calling him, “Dad? What the fuck are you talking about? What do you mean Dad accidentally used hair removal cream instead of shampoo? How the fuck do you get those bottles confused- It’s burning? Right. Right okay. I’ll get some stuff to help with it, and I’ll be home soon. Right. Bye.”  
  
  
Damien placed his phone back into one of the pockets of his leather jacket before speaking directly to Brian, “What was it you wanted to say?”  
  
  
Brian didn’t reply for a moment or two, but eventually he realised he’d bottled it, “No, it’s nothing. Go help your Dad out, sounds like he needs it.”  
  
  
Damien was half tempted to press into the matter more, but with his Dad’s words still ringing in his ears, he thought against it, “Yeah, I’ll be going then. I’ll see you soon then?”  
  
  
“Yeah, tomorrow.” Brian said with a soft smile.  
  
  
“Right, I’ll see you then.” Damien said before turning around and leaving the parlour.  
  
  
Brian watched Damien leave until he was completely out of sight, and after he’d gone, he sat there silently. Unsure what to do with himself; he knew what he’d been about to ask Damien. He knew. And it almost freaked him out with how suddenly the urge to do so had arrived. He wouldn’t be able to hold back for much longer, he knew that.  
  
  
It was only a matter of time.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! Any comments are welcome :)


End file.
